BATON ROUGE, La. – The Association of State Correctional Administrators (ASCA) this week awarded Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections' Secretary Jimmy Le Blanc the 2019 Tom Clements Award at its All Directors Symposium in Carlsbad, California. The Clements award was created in 2015 to honor the memory of Tom Clements, Executive Director of the Colorado Department of Corrections, who was assassinated in the line of duty in March 2013. This award was established to identify ASCA members who display innovation and achievement, two of the qualities Clements himself was known for. 

"Secretary Le Blanc has served the state of Louisiana for over 45 years and has been an integral part of the Cabinet for the past four years. He has proven himself as an innovative leader in corrections and his experience and knowledge has been instrumental in the historic criminal justice reforms that have taken place in Louisiana over the past several years. He is a forward thinker whose vision for public safety in Louisiana includes not only those working in criminal justice, but stakeholders such as the community, crime victims, families of the incarcerated, employers, service providers, and non-profit organizations that all have a stake in a successful justice system." - John Bel Edwards, Governor of Louisiana

Secretary Le Blanc has worked for the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections for more than 45 year. He has served the past 11 years as Secretary, being appointed to the Cabinet position by two governors. Over this period of time, he has sat at the head of the Department through some of its challenging and most exciting years. 

During his tenure as the Department's leader, Secretary Le Blanc has led many initiatives which have improved outcomes in corrections including the creation and implementation of the state's historic criminal justice reforms. The reforms have been implemented through strategic plans and improvements in operational processes with the most significant area of change being the Secretary’s vision around corrections’ responsibility to return prisoners to Louisiana's communities better than they were before they were incarcerated.

Click here for photo of photo of award . From left to right in the photo: Bernie Warner, Clements Committee Co-Chair, Secretary Jimmy Le Blanc, Rick Raemisch, Clements Committee Co-Chair.

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