WITNESS
Colonel David M. Parrish is the Detention Department Commander for the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office in Tampa, Florida. He has been with the Sheriff's Office for more than 30 years and has held his current position in charge of the county jail system since 1981. He is responsible for an accredited 4,190 bed jail system comprised of two major facilities and a work release center.
He is a Past President of the American Jail Association and former Chair of the Jail Manager's Certification Commission. A long-time member of the American Correctional Association, he has served on the Delegate Assembly, the Board of Governors, as Treasurer, and on numerous committees. In addition, he was the recipient of the E. R. Cass Award in 1997. Most recently, Colonel Parrish was appointed by Attorney General John Ashcroft to serve as a member of the National Institute of Corrections' Advisory Board for a three-year term effective August 1, 2004. The 16-person, nonpartisan board provides policy direction and helps set program priorities for the Institute. Colonel Parrish is a graduate of Penn State (B.A.), Sam Houston State University (M.A. in Criminology and Corrections), and the 119th Session of the F.B.I. National Academy. In addition, he received an Honorary Doctorate Degree in Humanities from Central Methodist College in 1999.
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STATEMENT
"Properly trained and qualified staff are critical to the effective operation of a direct supervision facility. Officers must possess excellent interpersonal communication skills because so much is expected of them. They must function as supervisors, not custodians. …In the words of Austin McCormick, 'If only I had the right staff, I could run a good prison in an old red barn.'
"Jail operations have a history of being "off limits" to outsiders. Such is not the case with accredited facilities. …The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office encourages jail tours and is open to the media and the public for a firsthand examination. In 2004, we hosted 326 tours with 4,063 participants."
Excerpted from a written statement submitted to the Commission
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Note: Some witnesses submitted documents in addition to the written statement they prepared for the hearing. In most cases, those documents are not available on the Commission's web site.
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