Just Authority: Can a Single Strategy Improve Well-being and Cooperation for both Corrections Officers and Incarcerated Individuals

Anyone who has been inside of a jail or prison can imagine the toll it takes on the millions of people in the U.S. who live and work there. Amidst calls for reform nationally in the criminal justice system, the Connecticut Department of Correction, Yale Justice Collaboratory, and LaGratta Consulting partnered on a project to test whether targeted training and engagement with corrections officers could reduce stress and improve well-being and cooperation for staff and individuals in custody alike. This session will explore the strategies and research findings of this first-of-its-kind effort and the evidence-informed framework supporting the model. Hear firsthand from the deputy warden who helped guide and roll out the project over several months and what it suggests for needed reforms going forward in prisons and related contexts.

Speaker and Presenter Information

Camila Andrade Gripp is Director of Research; Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at The Justice Collaboratory of the Yale Law School. Camila provides overall direction and management to the development and implementation of The Justice Collaboratory’s research agenda and works to expand their methods and approaches to center and elevate the voice of marginalized and underrepresented groups in the research process. In addition to a PhD in Political Science, she holds Master’s degrees in Liberal Studies, Politics and Economics. Her approach to research draws from this interdisciplinary background and previous work with criminal justice agencies in the US and Brazil. Her study of police organizational reform failures in Brazil resulted in a double award-winning doctoral dissertation.

Damian Doran is a Deputy Warden for the Connecticut Department of Correction and is assigned to MacDougall-Walker Correctional Institution. He began his career in corrections over 17 years ago and has been assigned to five of Connecticut’s correctional facilities. He earned a M.S. degree in the Administration of Justice and Security from the University of Phoenix and a B.S. degree in Justice and Law Administration from Western Connecticut State University.

Emily LaGratta, J.D., is a justice reform consultant and innovator who has worked with criminal justice agencies across the country since 2009. She is a national subject matter expert on the topics of procedural justice and community justice, and has authored several articles and practitioner tools. One recent publication is a book called “To Prosecute: Interviews About Early-Decisionmaking,” available for download or hard copy here. Before starting LaGratta Consulting, Emily was the Director of Procedural Justice Initiatives at the Center for Court Innovation, where she oversaw a multi-million dollar consulting practice on the topics of procedural justice and community justice.