I have over 10 years of experience working and interning in various capacities in the criminal justice field.  While working on my Bachelor’s Degree in Social Work from Elms College in Chicopee, MA, I completed two internships with the Hampden County Sheriff’s Department at the Hampden County Jail and House of Corrections.  I spent my first internship working with the Gang Task Force and learning about security, different gangs, and how they operate in correctional facilities.  The next internship I completed was with the After Incarceration Support Systems (AISS) Program and I facilitated groups, conducted needs assessments, and referred inmates to outside agencies to help them address their issues upon their release.

While working on my Master’s in Social Work Degree from Fordham University, I worked with the United States Probation Department in Brooklyn and I was responsible for giving substance abuse assessments, conducting biopsychosocial assessments, individual substance abuse treatment, and group substance abuse treatment.  After I completed my Master’s Degree, I drove a truck around New York City and Long Island delivering cheese and other Italian foods due to the challenges of finding a job in the field (my lack of experience and inability to speak fluent Spanish).

I moved back to Massachusetts several years later and went through the hiring process for the Hampden County Sheriff’s Department.  I was hired as a correctional officer and I went through the training academy.  I started off as a correctional officer working in Special Operations and I was responsible for providing security on the inside the facility, outside details, and supervising inmate housing units.  About 10 months later, I was promoted to counselor and I worked with high-risk inmates doing individual treatment and group treatment.  I spent almost the next four years working as a correctional officer/correctional counselor where I conducted assessments, referred inmates to programs, had casework responsibilities, helped create an anger management program, sat on numerous committees to include housing and security, and also assisted the officers.

In July of 2011, I was laid off from the Hampden County Sheriff’s Department due to budget cuts and I started working on my Ph.D. in Criminal Justice and the University of New Haven. My areas of specialization my Ph.D. work were in mental health, solitary confinement, and corrections and my dissertation focused on the impact of policy changes in the segregation units at the Hampden County Jail and House of Corrections.  While working on my Ph.D., I also became a consultant with the New Haven Police Department and I assisted them with the compiling, writing, and editing of their general post orders.

I have co-facilitated and evaluated a leadership program called “Transforming Youth Justice: A Leadership Development Program” for the Tow Youth Justice Institute at the University of New Haven, which was a group of 15 mid-level managers that worked in various areas with youth in New Haven County.  In addition, I have facilitated trainings at the Museum of Tolerance in New York City.  Specifically, I have facilitated the “Protecting the Dignity of the Corrections Officer” program to groups of correctional officers from the New York Department of Corrections (NYDOC) from Riker’s Island and also facilitated the “Perspectives on Profiling” program for the New York Police Department (NYPD). I am a certified Connecticut Police Officer Standards and Training Facilitator and I currently conduct the Trait, Values, Behavior Training for the New Haven Department of Police Service command staff, recruits, and officers.

I have also worked as a research assistant on several criminal justice programs in the Springfield, MA area.  Specifically, I worked on the Massachusetts State Police & Springfield Police Department’s C3 Policing Initiative in the South End of Springfield and I also worked on the Massachusetts Uniform Citation Data Analysis and Report from 2020 – 2022. I currently am conducting research for the Shannon Community Safety Initiative, which is a grant that helps to address gang activity (prevention, intervention, and suppression) for Springfield, Massachusetts.

In academia, I have taught at the University of New Haven, Elms College, Westfield State University, University of Hartford, Salem State University and now I am working as an Associate Professor of Criminal Justice at Worcester State University.  I have taught courses in: Introduction to Criminal Justice, Introduction to Corrections, Research Methods, Criminology (Theories of Crime), Correctional Treatment Programs, Capstone Seminar Course: Ethics, Integrity Training, and Leadership Development, Technology in Criminal Justice, Organized Crime and White Collar Crime, Juvenile Delinquency, Drugs, Crime, & Society, Gangs, Corrections & Rehabilitation and Master’s Level Courses in Contemporary Issues in Corrections, Juvenile Delinquency, Drugs, Crime, and Society, and Mental Illness in Criminal Justice.