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Reentry News: DOC Leadership Updates Reentry Agents Title

Tags: DOC
January 24, 2020 12:00 AM
By: DOC Staff

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Effective Jan. 2, 2020, to simplify and make the position more in line with its job description, Assessment Sanctioning Community Resource Agents (ASCRAs) have been renamed to Community Reentry Parole Agents (CRPAs). This action streamlines both the institutional reentry parole agents with the community reentry parole agents, reducing the silo between the two positions and reinforcing the team concept in the agency's reentry initiatives.

Sheaffer Named Executive Assistant to Reentry

In September, Matt Sheaffer was named executive assistant to the deputy secretary for reentry.

Sheaffer has been with the PA Board of Probation and Parole (PBPP) since 2012. He worked as an ASCRA in the Harrisburg District and a mental health agent in the Harrisburg District Office. In 2015, he was promoted to parole manager in the Central Region where he supervised ASCRAs in several districts in the Central and Western Regions. Sheaffer has been the acting western region reentry administrator since March 2019. Prior to being employed with PBPP, he worked as a corrections officer at SCI Frackville until 2010, when he took a position as the federal social services coordinator at Capitol Pavilion in Harrisburg. Sheaffer graduated from the Pennsylvania State University in 2010 with a BS in criminal justice, and he also completed master's degrees in criminal justice in 2014 and in public administration in 2016 from the University of Phoenix.

"Matt has been instrumental in moving the agency's reentry initiatives forward and we're looking forward to utilizing his knowledge and skills in this new position," said Deputy Secretary for Reentry Kelly J. Evans.

Reentry Administrator Position Redefined

The DOC's two regional reentry administrator positions have been merged into one executive assistant position. In this position, Lacosta Mussoline is now responsible for providing technical assistance to Reentry Service Offices and Transitional Housing Units; Medicaid/Medicare and Social Security Administration benefits; centralized clearances; maintaining the reentry policy, coordinating reentry job fairs and special projects such as DHS case management, BCC services contracts, commutation reentry support and the partnership with the PA Department of Banking and Securities.

Mussoline has been with the DOC since September 2002, when she began as a corrections counselor on a pre-release unit at SCI Coal Township. Since then, she has broadened her work within the department through various positions within the Bureau of Community Corrections, SCI Muncy and Central Office. She has served as the State Intermediate Punishment Coordinator for BCC Region 2, the Diagnostic and Classification Center unit manager at Muncy, acting BCC administrative officer and deputy, business process expert in the development of IOCMS/CAPTOR, staff assistant to the executive deputy secretary, and most recently as the regional reentry administrator for the eastern region. 

Her experience within the PA DOC and exposure to Parole Board efforts, through IOCMS/CAPTOR, Act 122 and other initiatives will assist her in identifying ways to collectively recognize and refine interagency efforts as we work toward a common goal.

BCC Now Part of Reentry Office

The DOC's Bureau of Community Corrections (BCC), which operated as its own entity since its creation several decades ago, now is under the Office of Reentry, which is a new office created thanks to the memorandum of understanding between the DOC and the PBPP. This realignment continues to streamline reentry efforts and increase positive outcomes.

Workforce Development Specialist

Workforce development work over the past several years was performed by an individual whose job was funded by a multi-year grant. Now that the grant has ended, and seeing the vital role workforce development plays in inmate education and reentry, the agency now has a Workforce Development Specialist position that is funded fulltime by the agency. This position is overseen by the Office of Reentry and remains filled by Dorenda Hamarlund. To learn more about workforce development, you can contact Dorenda Hamarlund at dhamarlund@pa.gov or listen to related podcasts here: https://www.cor.pa.gov/About%20Us/Newsroom/Pages/Podcasts.aspx


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