TJJD News & Announcements

Leonard Cucolo, longtime court liaison for Texas Juvenile Justice Department/Texas Youth Commission, retired last week after 30 years with the agency. As court liaison for the past two decades (covering the entire state for the past 17 years), Cucolo traversed Texas countless times to testify in hearings for determinant-sentenced youth. Caseworkers and administrators prepared detailed files of a youth’s record while in custody in preparation for the hearings, where juvenile court judges weighed if a youth would be paroled or moved to an adult prison. It was Cucolo’s job to testify on behalf of the agency’s position. “I represented the work everybody did and it was an honor to do that,” Cucolo said at his retirement reception at TJJD’s central office in Austin on June 29. Earlier, Cucolo explained that his job placed him squarely in the middle of an emotional, high stakes event – the courtroom where a youth’s future was being decided. The news he delivered typically elated one...

Rebecca Walters began her career at Texas Youth Commission as a fresh-out-of-college intern at the Giddings State School in 1991 and rose to become the director of Youth Placement and Program Development for the Texas Juvenile Justice Department. Walters, who retired in March, was known as an innovator at TJJD and TYC, having worked on developing agency efficiencies and responsivity to youth needs in many capacities, including 10 years working across divisions directly on those specific issues. She helped improve leadership and succession planning, case management and treatment models. Recently she served as project manager of the Youth in Custody Practice Model (YICPM), a wide-ranging effort to assure the agency’s full alignment with national best practices. She also helped lead the Racial and Ethnic Disparities (RED) Work Group, which has generated new strategies to counter racial and ethnic disparities among youth and employees. Walters served in several capacities at...

AUSTIN, Texas – Jerome K. Williams, director of TJJD’s Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) compliance program, has retired after 18 years with TJJD/TYC. His going away party on Feb. 16 drew a crowd. Naturally, there was cake, but also vegetables and fruit. Williams, in addition to being a nationally known expert on the PREA law and unfailing resource in this area for those at TJJD, is an advocate for good nutrition and was known to keep carrot sticks close at hand. Williams also plays golf, something he says he’ll be doing more of now. Several of his co-workers said they look forward to continuing to play with him and noted that he could use his newfound leisure time to work on his game. The retirement commemoration was partly a roast, as well as a fond farewell to a beloved colleague. Several friends thanked Williams for having mentored them, and longtime buddy Bill Parks, superintendent of the Mart facility, confirmed with deadpan humor that Williams could indeed stand to fo...

Left: Lt. Johnny Thomas  receives his certificate. Right:  SIO Alex De La Garza  receives his certificate. AUSTIN, Texas – The TJJD Office of the Inspector General (OIG) said farewell to three of its employees in December, sending them off with a ceremony in the Lone Star Conference Room at Central Office. The departing employees, two of whom are retiring from decades-long state service, received framed flags and certificates commemorating their careers. Lt. Johnny Thomas retired after 23 years of state service split between TJJD and Texas Youth Commission (10-plus years) and the Texas Department of Criminal Justice . OIG Sgt. Tom Hamilton presented Thomas with a custom-made rifle that Hamilton had ordered just for his friend and fellow officer. Hamilton was uniquely positioned to procure this gift, a 35 Whelen on Mauser action rifle, for gun collector Thomas because Hamilton’s father is a gunsmith. He presented the rifle as a gift from both d...

This is a message from Shirley Stephens as she steps down as Team Lead for the G3 Juvenile Prison Ministry at McFadden Ranch. She will continue to mentor and help at special events. “In 2013 I got a horseshoe and a cross from Connie Redford (retired Community and Family Relations Coordinator for North Texas/Tarrant County/Fort Worth) for volunteering. The end of that year Anne Ashton gave me the keys to the ranch when I took her place over G3 volunteers. Tonight , last Monday, 7/24/2017, the Council gave me roses in a boot to remember the ranch. These are some of my treasures!"

Parole Officer Ricardo Leal is retiring in October 2017 after 35 years of service to the state and the juvenile justice field. He began his career with the former Texas Youth Commission in 1983, serving as a youth activity supervisor at the Giddings State School, Tamayo Halfway House and Beto Halfway House. In 1994, Ricardo made the change to become a parole officer, a position he has held for the past 24 years. Ricardo said many of his best memories are meeting young men and women who he once supervised that are now living productive lives in the community. "I’ve had 35- to 45-year-old men and women approach me in the community, introducing me to their families and sharing their life stories," he said. "After those conversations, they’ll ask if I recognize them. Some of them are now in the medical, educational or law enforcement fields." Ricardo said some of the biggest changes he’s seen during his career revolve around technology and the ability to...