Director Stancil,

We wanted first to take the time to recognize your willingness to come together in partnership to address the various concerns as outlined in the accompanying survey of COWINS members and workers within the department.

We wanted to raise up your concerns around various aspects of the methodology of the survey but that even taking these into consideration does not diminish the fact that a significant number of workers in the department felt that they were exposed to harassment on multiple fronts. That many of these workers are looking to leave or thinking of leaving service.

Not all is lost though, that even with the struggles happening the workers spoke to being proud of and seeing value in the work they are doing.

COWINS is recommending that in partnership we develop the following sub-committees to the Labor Management Committee to develop recommendations in the areas of concern that were presented form the survey. This would be on Sexual Harassment, Racial Discrimination, and Hostile Work Environment.

In order to keep the process productive, we are recommending between 3-4 members from each team, meeting over the next several months to review the current systemic structure, identify areas for improvement, and propose improvements as well as alternatives to current structures.

We look forward to meeting over the next several months to improve the overall workplace and provide a working environment that all workers can contribute to the success of criminal justice.

In Partnership,
COWINS CDOC Leadership Team