Texas Juvenile Justice Department’s Jannetta Williams, a juvenile corrections officer at the Ron Jackson State Juvenile Correctional Complex in Brownwood, Texas, is the recipient of the Texas Corrections Association’s 2013 Outstanding Juvenile Corrections Line Officer of the Year Award. Williams, a Juvenile Corrections Officer IV who lives in Brady, Texas, was recognized for her exemplary work ethic and integrity in her daily work with incarcerated juvenile females.
Williams joined TJJD in 2005 and has worked with incarcerated youth in a variety of settings at the Ron Jackson facility. She has supervised youth in general population dorms, the Capital Offender Treatment Dorm, and currently works in the Pairing Achievement With Service Dorm (PAWS). Youth in this dorm participate in a specialized program which pairs selected youth with shelter dogs from the Corinne T. Smith Animal Shelter in Brownwood. Youth in this program learn empathy, responsibility and caring while the canines learn appropriate behavior that makes them adoptable.
Williams has a broad knowledge of the requirements of the PAWS Program and a clear understanding of the Canine Good Citizen skills that the youth provide their canines to earn CGC Certification. She helps youth train their canines and provides positive feedback to the students as well as other solutions if the training is not working effectively. She plays an important role in teaching the youth how to care for and train their canines properly and understands the therapeutic benefits the PAWS Program has upon each youth.Williams’ co-workers describe her as fair, firm and consistent with the youth she works with. They note that when she makes decisions, Williams always puts safety and security first and listens to the students with purpose and understanding. She takes initiative and ownership of issues that arise and brings solutions to the problems she encounters.
According to Ron Jackson Superintendent April Jameson, “Jannetta Williams takes great pride in her work and her dorm. She has an outstanding work ethic and displays loyalty and integrity on a daily basis. She is a great asset to the Ron Jackson facility and the PAWS Team, we are very fortunate to have her on our staff.”
Photo contributed by TJJD.
