STAFF DIRECTORS

Catherine Wise
Development and Communications Director

Ms. Wise has been on the staff of the Prison Society since 1999. She first served in the capacity of Inmate Family Services Program Manager during which time she helped develop the SKIP (Support for Kids with Incarcerated Parents) program and implemented the Parenting Skills Education program, the Virtual Visitation and Transportation programs. She is responsible for all marketing, public relations, communications with the media and public, publications, and fundraising for the Prison Society.

Prior to her work with the Prison Society, she was a volunteer literacy tutor at SCI Graterford, an "outmate"of St. Dismas Episcopal Mission at SCI Graterford, an accounting associate, a parish administrator and a marketing communications assistant. She is a graduate of Skidmore College and has completed course work toward a master's degree in theological studies.

Contact:
     Catherine Wise
     (215) 564-6005, ext. 106

Betty-Ann Soiefer Izenman
Program Director

Betty-Ann Soiefer Izenman has been the Program Director at the Pennsylvania Prison Society since September, 2004. Ms. Izenman has been involved with the Philadelphia Prison System in various capacities since 1998, when she was appointed Special Master to U.S. District Judge Norma Shapiro to assist on a case involving prison overcrowding. Ms. Izenman then monitored the prison for the City Law Department for three years working closely with Prison officials and its then-Legal Counsel, Leon A. King II. She has also been an Assistant U.S. Attorney, the director of a Task Force from the Third Circuit Court of Appeals and counsel to Senator John Glenn and the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs. Ms. Izenman graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and the American University Law School.

Contact:
     Betty-Ann Soiefer Izenman
     (215) 564-6005, ext. 114

Ann Schwartzman
Policy and Public Education Director

Ms. Schwartzman has been on the staff of the Prison Society during two timeframes. First, she served as the Director of Advocacy in the late '80s and '90s. She rejoined the Prison Society in 2005 serving as the Inmate Family Services Program Manager. She is now coordinating the Prison Society's work on policies and issues.

Ms. Schwartzman has more than 20 years experience in the field of criminal justice program management, training and facilitation, and advocacy and public policy. She has built coalitions of government officials, elected representatives and community members to work on various issues including managing mentally ill offenders, establishing services for children of incarcerated parents, and advocating for alternatives to incarceration as well as legislative initiatives on a wide variety of issues. She was involved in managing the establishment of criminal justice advisory boards for the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency and the County Commissioners Association and participated in the recent Leadership Training for Weed and Seed. Ms. Schwartzman has also managed numerous programs for the US Dept of Justice and developed workshops for the National Institute of Corrections. She has a BA from Rutgers University and MSW from Temple University.

Contact:
     Ann Schwartzman
     (215) 564-6005, ext. 117

John Hargreaves
Director of Volunteer Services

John Hargreaves oversees the Prison Society's network of Official Visitor, works with chapter Conveners to solve local prison issues they or their chapter members encounter, and build membership in the chapters throughout the state. Mr. Hargreaves has been involved with the Prison Society since 1979. In 1980, he became co-convener of the Dauphin County Chapter. He is a regular Official Visitor to both Dauphin County Prison and SCI Camp Hill. In 1995, Mr. Hargreaves was given the Society's Official Visitor of the Year Award.

A passionate advocate of public involvement in correctional issues, Mr. Hargreaves has worked as a criminologist for 29 years, serving as a liaison between state-run juvenile secure treatment units and county courts. He also taught Outward Bound to juveniles.

Contact:
     John Hargreaves
(717) 379-8989