The Issue
Corrections agencies face pressing challenges, including crowding, workforce shortages, and a significant need for mental health and substance use services, all under tight budgets and public scrutiny.
To address these issues effectively, many correctional agency leaders are fostering strong research and data analytics teams, positioning them as credible messengers of data that can be used to identify and solve problems. By leveraging accurate, transparent, and actionable data, departments can build trust, inform operations, and help secure the resources needed for safe, humane, and effective correctional systems.
How Advancing Data in Corrections Can Help
The mission of the Advancing Data in Corrections (ADC) initiative is to help departments of corrections (DOCs) build the capacity to effectively use their own data. This empowers agency leaders to make better operational decisions; improve system outcomes; and communicate compelling narratives to staff, policymakers, and the public. ADC is funded by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs’ Bureau of Justice Assistance.
ADC does this through two initiatives:
- The ADC Academy builds the skills of DOC research and data analytic divisions, strengthening staff’s ability to provide meaningful tools and analyses to their leaders over the long term. It also professionalizes the field of corrections analysis by creating career pathways and peer networks to build the corrections analyst workforce.
- Resident Analysts (RA) supplements DOCs’ capacity to execute a meaningful project by embedding an analyst directly in a DOC for 6–12 months. It is also a doorway for early-career analysts to enter the corrections workforce.
This project was supported by Grant No. 15PBJA-22-GK-01570-JRIX awarded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance. The Bureau of Justice Assistance is a component of the Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs, which also includes the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the National Institute of Justice, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, the Office for Victims of Crime, and the SMART Office. Points of view or opinions in this document are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
Key Staff
Sara Friedman
Program Director, State Initiatives
Sara Friedman oversees a portfolio of projects that help state leaders improve outcomes and reduce recidivism by building and implementing technology for data-driven decision-making. Prior to this role, she led teams of CSG Justice Center staff who helped states adopt and measure research-driven criminal justice policy and practice changes through the Justice Reinvestment Initiative.
Previously, Sara was the director of resource development at an alternative-to-incarceration nonprofit, focusing on grant writing, program development, and building organizational capacity through data collection and program evaluation. Sara earned her BA from University of Pennsylvania and her MPA from New York University.
Ruth Coffman
Deputy Program Director, State Initiatives
Ruth Coffman provides support for state initiatives, focusing on improving community supervision and overall data utilization in state correctional departments. Previously, she worked at the Colorado Department of Corrections, where she oversaw improvements in compassionate release, parole reform, and market-wage work programs.
Ruth also was the first executive director of the University of Chicago Health Lab and the first research director for the Cook County Sheriff’s Department of Corrections. She has a BS in International Political Economy from Georgetown University, as well as an MPP and MDiv from the University of Chicago.
Deinya Phenix
Deputy Division Director, Research
Deinya Phenix leads the Advancing Data in Corrections portfolio, using data to improve operations by enhancing data literacy and analytic capabilities of corrections departments nationwide to further data-informed planning and decision-making. Before joining the CSG Justice Center, Deinya Phenix was associate director for research for the Ending Girls’ Incarceration initiative at the Vera Institute of Justice, where she led mixed-methods research investigating criminalization and gendered pathways to system involvement and life course impact for young people.
She was the principal investigator of a collaborative evaluation of a gender-responsive, trauma-informed diversion program; several studies aimed toward advancing the freedom of girls and gender-expansive young people; and studies of prison culture and restorative practices for young adults. Deinya has been a quantitative behavioral scientist, researcher, and consultant in urban education, public health, and criminal justice, as well as an award-winning college professor. Deinya is a member of Statistics Without Borders, the American Evaluation Association, the American Criminological Society, and other professional and charitable organizations. She holds a PhD in sociology from New York University, an MA in sociology from the University of New Mexico, and a BA from Williams College.