Pamela Sturz was recently sworn in as the new Deputy Director of the Hawai’i Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation’s (DCR) Correctional Institutions Division.

Sturz, who has more than 30 years of leadership experience in corrections, served as a deputy warden for the Stanley Correctional Institution in Wisconsin as well as deputy warden for the Racine Correctional Institution before her appointment as warden for both the Stanley Correctional Institution and Chippewa Valley Correctional Treatment Facility.

From 2005 to 2008, Sturz simultaneously oversaw the Stanley Correctional Institution and Chippewa Valley Correctional Treatment Facility. As warden, she established community relations boards and worked closely with the public, city officials, legislative entities, and law enforcement agencies to promote and support correctional needs related to security programs and overall prison operations at the facilities.

She has also taken part in leadership teams that guided offenders, taking a holistic approach through evidence-based programs from incarceration to reentry back into communities.

Sturz continued to serve as warden at Chippewa Valley Correctional Treatment Facility where she managed the largest Drug and Alcohol Treatment Facility in the state. She also developed restorative justice initiatives through community service projects.

In 2014, Sturz was appointed to oversee the Racine Youthful Offender Correctional Facility, which housed 450 youthful male offenders where she focused on providing evidence-based programming to aid in recidivism reduction and promote safer communities.

A strong advocate of human rights and prison reform, Sturz worked with the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL), an agency that reports to the Unders ecretary for Civilian Security, Democracy and Human Rights within the U.S. Department of State.

Following retirement from the Wisconsin Department of Corrections in 2019, she worked on international prison reform as a contracted senior corrections advisor with the U.S. Department of Justice, International Criminal Investigative Training Assistance Program in the Republic of Kosovo and more recently, the Republic of North Macedonia.

In a press release Sturz said, “I would like to thank Governor Green and Director Johnson for giving me the opportunity to serve the people of Hawai‘i in the capacity as Deputy Director for Correctional Institutions. This is an honor and privilege to serve in this capacity and I look forward to the challenges and opportunities that will come in this position.”