Wardens share passion for prison work

Jan. 12--FORT MADISON -- Wardens Nick Ludwick and Patti Wachtendorf love what they do.

Wachtendorf was at the Iowa State Penitentiary in Fort Madison Tuesday, learning the ropes from Ludwick, who is retiring from his Department of Corrections career a month shy of completing his 42nd year at the suggestion of health care providers.

The ISP warden of more than six years was diagnosed with melanoma 12 years ago and has been living with stage 4 cancer since 2012.

Having worked at ISP from 1983 to 1987 as a correctional officer, investigator, senior correctional officer, correctional counselor and treatment services director, Wachtendorf is no stranger to the prison's procedures (even though it has moved into a new facility) or its population.

She and Ludwick made rounds earlier in the day, and most of the older inmates were familiar with Wachtendorf from her past employment at the prison.

"Most of them are joking saying 'You said you'd be back as the warden and now you are,' so that's nice to hear," Ludwick said, explaining it eases concerns wardens typically have when leaving facilities.

Neither warden anticipates gender as being an issue for Wachtendorf, who will be the first woman to oversee operations of the more than 800-inmate maximum security men's prison.

Ludwick said prisons benefit from women workers because many offenders come from single-parent backgrounds, having known only their mothers. Because of this, he said, women often are more successful than men at deescalating tense situations in a prison environment.

Wachtendorf, much like her predecessor, believes treating people with respect earns respect. She said her job is about maintaining a "safe environment for people to make changes in their lives," and doesn't see gender as a reason for that to change. The two believe the more time spent interacting with inmates, the better.

There will be some changes, though, as men tend to be more violent than women, women tend to experience a higher rate of severe mental illness and there are more security protocols at ISP than at her previous prison.

The two have enjoyed a competitive relationship over the past few years. At about the same time Ludwick was organizing the transfer to ISP's new location in 2015, an expansion of the Iowa Correctional Institute for Women in Mitchellville, where Wachtendorf has been warden since 2009 until now, was being completed. Each facility had its own ribbon cutting ceremony, and each warden strived to make theirs the best. In the end, Gov. Terry Branstad and Lieutenant Gov. Kim Reynolds declared the competition a draw. The wardens still don't believe it was a tie.

"When I leave, you'll actually be able to say you're No. 1 and nobody will be able to argue with you," Ludwick told Wachdendorf.

The two met in 2010 when Ludwick interviewed for the ISP warden position. Wachtendorf was a peer on the interview board and said what began as an hour and a half job interview that felt more like a conversation turned into a lasting friendship. She was one of the first Ludwick called when he learned he had five new tumors.

The wardens value the opportunities their positions provide to affect others' lives.

Ludwick grew up in Ionia, Wis., which, at the time, was home to five prisons. He played softball and basketball on city teams against offenders. He first was inside prison walls at a young age when his father and uncle were refereeing games between city league teams and the prison team.

He began his career with the Michigan Department of Corrections in 1975 after a friend's father asked him and four of his friends to fill positions he had open at the Ionia, Wis., Correctional Facility. Though he didn't plan to pursue a career in corrections, he found his passion in interacting with the inmates and segued from a correctional officer to a recreational director and went on to fill positions of unit manager, department classification manager, senior executive warden and, in 2007, was appointed warden of the St. Louis Correctional Facility and the Mid-Michigan Correctional Facility.

"I think being a warden is the best job you could have," Ludwick said.

Ludwick recalled his first day as the ISP warden. Rounding a corner at the facility, deemed "The Fort" by the prison community, he saw eight inmates sitting on a bench attached to the kitchen wall.

"Is this where the chief executive officers hang out or what?" he asked them.

"It's your world. We just live in it," they responded before offering him a seat.

To the surprise of the inmates and staff alike, Ludwick sat. He since formed close relationships with many ISP inmates. He spoke of one inmate taking High School Equivalency Test courses whom he pushed to succeed. The man asked Ludwick to return to the prison to watch when he receives his HiSet certificate in March. Ludwick plans to make the trip if he is feeling well enough.

"Nobody grows up wanting to be a warden," Ludwick said. "You never hear anybody say I want to grow up to work in a prison, but Patti."

Wachtendorf wanted to be a warden since she was in junior high when she saw a television show about abuse in prisons.

"I was going to go in and change the world," she said.

While a high school student, she wrote to prison wardens saying she wanted to be a warden and asking if she could visit their facilities. She was given permission to enter the Sheridan, Ill., Correctional Center and two Vienna, Ill., prisons. She went on to work at Stateville, Ill., Correctional Center and Joliet, Ill., Correctional Center before taking a correctional officer job at ISP in 1983. She remained there until 1997 when she became the treatment services director at the Mount Pleasant Correctional Facility.

Wachtendorf worked with male offenders until 2001 when she took a position as security director at the Iowa Correctional Institution for Women in Mitchellville.

"Women grow on you," she said.

She became the women's facility deputy warden in 2006. In 2009, she achieved her lifelong dream and became the warden. During her time in that position, Wachtendorf oversaw a massive expansion of the former girl's reform school and worked to improve the lives' of women staying at the mixed-security prison as well as to decrease the recidivism rate.

"It's our job to make this environment as best we can for the offenders and the staff. We're all doing time together. We all need a safe, secure environment," Wachtendorf said.

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