At the May 3 quarterly meeting of the IDS Commission, Commissioner Arthur “Art” Beeler was recognized by Chair Dorothy Hairston Mitchell for being one of two recipients of a very prestigious lifetime achievement award. He received a standing ovation and was humbled for the acknowledgment by the Commission.
Harley Lappin retired as Director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons in 2011. He met Art while serving as a warden in the federal prison in Butner, NC back in the 1990s. He had this to say about nominating Art Beeler for the E.R. Cass Correctional Achievement Award, given by the American Correctional Association, which is the highest achievement in the nation for the prison industry:
Art has been a mentor to many. Even early in his career, he was known for his leadership and being a down-to-earth guy. Art is a class act—hardworking, honest, and he cares a great deal about the industry, the staff, and the people who are imprisoned. Art served as a prison warden for several years. He also served as the regional director and then the director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Even in retirement, he remains committed to reducing recidivism. I nominated him because of his strong leadership, his commitment to running safe, secure, humane prisons, and his mentorship of staff. He cares a great deal about the people who are incarcerated. And he wants to see them become honest, law abiding, taxpaying citizens. He wants them to go home and not come back!
Harley Lappin
As a warden, Art was responsible for overseeing three facilities and opening and running the largest prison medical center in the country in 1995, located in Butner. The Federal Medical Center, Butner (FMC Butner) serves male inmates of all security levels who have special health needs.
Remarks from John Clark, a former colleague of Art’s, who wrote a letter of support for Art’s nomination for the Cass award:
“Art Beeler’s work in the corrections field for almost 50 years has been an untiring example of the highest ideals of our criminal justice system.
“Having come up through the ranks with him, I had the opportunity to work with Art for well over 25 years as a fellow administrator in the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP). We both started as line correctional officers and worked our way to the warden level during a period of unparalleled growth and challenge for the BOP.”
According to John Clark, when Art began work in 1975, the BOP had a population of 26,000 prisoners and operated about 35 institutions. By the time he retired in 2009, the population had rocketed to over 210,000 and the agency operated over 100 facilities.
“This growth to over eight times the earlier population,” he added, “presented many daunting management challenges – in particular, the need to rapidly develop a cadre of new administrators and wardens.”
“Art was an invaluable resource to the agency in identifying and training younger staff. In his 22 years at the warden level, he not only became the Bureau’s senior warden in terms of service but was broadly recognized as a role model and for his work personally mentoring hundreds of upcoming mid- and higher-level managers. Top BOP leaders knew they could rely on Art to help young, inexperienced administrators face the challenges of continually opening new facilities and rapidly expanding the populations of others.
“Art took it on himself to develop a high level of expertise in correctional health care and mental health treatment – not a particularly attractive area for many wardens. In this critical area, Art helped the agency to develop policies and responses to the AIDS crisis and to the rapidly growing needs for drug treatment and mental health care.
“Art has continued his dedicated work in the corrections field long after his retirement from the BOP. He has lent his considerable expertise to an array of public agencies and educational institutions in North Carolina. He exemplifies the term public servant.”
The Commission and IDS are honored that Art Beeler has served on the Commission for eight years. And we congratulate him for this highest honor.