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Confidential Assistant

Shelith Hansbro | Confidential Assistant to the Director

Shelith W. Hansbro is the Confidential Assistant to the Director. In this role, she serves on the executive leadership team and is instrumental in identifying and developing initiatives, policies and procedures as they relate to departmental goals. Specifically, she has been tasked with the implementation and development of activities that engage our workforce in an environment of inclusiveness.

Hansbro was Warden of Decatur Correctional Center from September 2010 through May 2018. The facility notably serves a special population including mothers and infants and promotes family reunification. As the Chief Administrative Officer, she managed a 20-million-dollar facility budget and was responsible for providing gender-responsive and trauma-informed training for staff and programming for incarcerated women.

From May 2018 until January 2020, she was detailed as Assistant Warden of Programs at Taylorville Correctional Center providing oversight of current programming and identifying and implementing new programs for the male offender.

Hansbro previously served as the IDOC Chief of Community Outreach/Constituent Services and engaged families, prisoner advocacy groups, and other public and private partners to enhance communication and provide access and resources to facilities. She supervised Volunteer and Chaplain Services, Jail and Detention Standards, Recruitment and Victim Services. Hansbro started her career in Corrections as the Assistant Supervisor of the Decatur Adult Transition Center and Minority Recruitment Officer in 2005.

Prior to her work in Corrections, Hansbro was the Director of Public Affairs for the Illinois Department of Transportation, as well as Community Engagement Specialist for a large Illinois school district. Her previous work was in television and radio.

Hansbro is a Journalism graduate of Northern Illinois University and earned a master’s degree in Public Administration from the University of Illinois - Springfield. She is also a graduate of the Prison Fellowship Warden’s Exchange Program and a guest lecturer in Auckland and Wellington, New Zealand through Presbyterian Support Northern. Hansbro has also completed the Executive Women in Corrections Leadership forums instructed by the National Institute of Corrections.