John Wetzel Biography

In December of 2010, John Wetzel was selected as the 11th Secretary of Corrections for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania by Governor-elect Corbett. His tenure there saw an elimination of a 24-year average growth of 1500 inmates per year, presiding over the first population reduction in Pennsylvania in more than four decades. Additionally, he oversaw the restructuring of the Community Corrections system, the mental health system and a re-engineering of internal processes to yield a more efficient system of program delivery.

Secretary John Wetzel is widely recognized as one of the thought leaders in corrections today.

With more than 26 years of experience, Secretary Wetzel’s career began in Lebanon County (PA) as a corrections officer in 1989. His time there was followed by nine years at Berks County (PA) where he served as a correctional officer, counselor, treatment supervisor and finally director of the Training Academy. Then, in January of 2002, he began his nine-year tenure as warden of the Franklin County (PA) Jail. It was there where he was credited with leading an effort that resulted in the transformation of their correctional system. Under his leadership, Franklin County saw a 20 percent reduction in its population while the crime rate declined. Franklin County was at the forefront of maximizing their correctional continuum to reduce reliance on incarceration while focusing on improving outcomes for offenders. Specifically they developed a day reporting center, established a jail industries program and initiated several programs targeting improved services for mentally ill offenders, not the least of which being a certified peer specialist program in 2006.

Secretary Wetzel is a national consultant and speaker whose areas of expertise include staffing, vulnerability assessment, mentally ill offenders, developing employment opportunities for formerly incarcerated offenders, population management, mitigating impacts on the families/children of incarcerated individuals and effecting system change.

He was appointed to the Pennsylvania Board of Pardons, by then-Governor Edward Rendell (D), as the Board's corrections expert where he subsequently led a change in the pardons process resulting in an increased production of the Board while alleviating an elevated waiting time for applicants.

In December 2010, he was selected as the 11th secretary of corrections for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania by then-Governor-elect Tom Corbett (R). His tenure there saw an elimination of a 24-year average growth of 1,500 inmates per year, presiding over the first population reduction in PA in over four decades. Additionally, he oversaw the restructuring of the community corrections system, the mental health system and a re-engineering of internal processes to yield a more efficient system of program delivery.

In January 2015, Governor Tom Wolf (D) asked Wetzel to continue as the secretary of corrections, making him the 12th person to hold that position for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

He is a member of Harvard’s Executive Session on Community Corrections, which is a joint project of Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government and the National Institute of Justice (NIJ). Consisting of 30 of the leading policymakers, practitioners and researchers from across the country, the intent is to shape the meaning and future of community corrections policy in the United States. The Executive Session will develop best practices and thinking for professionals across the public safety and criminal justice spectrum.

Secretary Wetzel has been selected as the vice chair of the Council of State Governments’ Justice Center’s Executive Board and is a member of the Colson Task Force on federal prison overcrowding. In May 2016, the Indiana University of Pennsylvania presented to him an honorary doctor of laws. Finally, Secretary Wetzel is the former offensive line coach for Shippensburg University and a founding member of the St. Seraphim homeless shelter. He also initiated a program to positively impact disadvantaged youth by inviting private sector/higher education entities to develop programs specifically focused on them, similar to the President Obama’s My Brother's Keeper initiative.

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