We hope you’ve enjoyed meeting a small cross-section of TJJD’s many dedicated staff members during this National Correctional Officers Week. We wrap up today with a spotlight on Youth De
velopment Coach Kelli Hall of the Mart campus.
velopment Coach Kelli Hall of the Mart campus. Kelli Hall
Campus Shift Administrator, Mart campus
When asked to describe her job as the morning Campus Shift Administrator at the McLennan County State Juvenile Correctional Facility, in Mart, Kelli Hall keeps it simple. “I make sure the campus is covered as far as staff goes. If there are incidents of any kind, I respond to them and report them. My main job is to make sure that the campus is running smoothly every day. I make sure everybody stays safe.”
Hall graduated with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Purdue University after growing up in small-town Texas and is in her third year working for TJJD. She hopes to eventually earn her Ph.D. in psychology and use that to work within the correctional system to help staff members process the things they experience on the job.
She says the best part of her role is seeing the kids get to go home. “All of us want to make sure that the kids can go home in a timely manner and that they go home safe. A lot of people overlook that aspect of corrections, but somebody has to be there to make sure that everybody gets to go home.”
That comes with a lot of challenges, and though Hall makes it look easy day in and day out, there is one thing she would change if she could. “I wish the public understood the depths of the job and the work that’s being done here,” she says. “There are a lot of misconceptions about correctional officers. It can be a very hard job and a very stressful job. I think it can be a very underappreciated job—but it’s a great job.”
- John McGreevy, TJJD Communications