Gov. Pritzker Appoints 24-Year Criminal Justice Expert to Lead Department of Corrections
After conducting a national search to continue building a strong team of diverse experts in their fields, Governor JB Pritzker announced the following appointment:
Rob Jeffreys will serve as Director of the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC).* Jeffreys is a nationally-recognized criminal justice expert with correctional experience spanning more than two decades. He spent 21 of his 24 years in corrections management at the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections. Jeffreys currently serves as the agency’s chief of staff and directs its Information Technology and Strategic Initiatives bureaus as well as the Office of Human Resources that supports more than 12,000 employees. Previously as ODRC’s Regional Director, he managed the operations of eight adult prisons and the Adult Parole Authority across 20 counties, oversaw 25,000 offenders and 3700 staff and managed an annual budget of $340 million. As Bureau Chief of Classification and Reception at ODRC, Jeffreys provided population management for over 50,000 offenders based on trends, research, and data analysis variables. From 2007 to 2010, he was sent on a special assignment under the Intergovernmental Personnel Act (IPA) as a National Prison Security Program Coordinator with the National Institute of Corrections in Washington D.C., developing programs and assessments for over 26 federal and state agencies in the areas of security operations, security audit training, staffing analysis, emergency preparedness, prison management, and technical assistance. He also served as Warden for correctional institutions in Chillicothe and Marion, Deputy Warden in Toledo and in various positions at ODRC’s St. Clairsville facility. He began his career as a corrections class specialist in ODRC’s Bureau of Research. Jeffreys received both his Master of Science and Bachelor of Arts in Criminal Justice from Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia.
