About the Center for Correctional Solutions
Our Mission and Vision
Mission
To enhance the lives of people living and working in our correctional system through research, education, and community engagement.
Vision
To transform people and communities through empowered knowledge.
CCS advances evidence-informed approaches that integrate research, lived experience, and practitioner expertise to improve well-being within correctional systems.
How We Work: Guiding Principles
Our work is grounded in a set of guiding principles that shape how we approach partnerships, research, and education:
Collaboration
We partner with the people most impacted by our work to identify challenges and implement solutions, positioning CCS as a connector across universities, agencies, and communities.
Knowledge
We integrate academic insight, lived experience, and practitioner expertise to better understand the realities and complexities of corrections, while centering lived experience alongside research and practice.
Innovation
We view crime and its correction as more than a criminal justice problem, applying holistic and creative approaches that draw from multiple disciplines and ways of knowing.
Empowerment
We create opportunities for students, incarcerated individuals, and correctional staff to expand their talents, skills, and potential through meaningful participation and leadership.
Together, these principles guide our commitment to Better Than Arrival Corrections—the idea that people should be better than their arrival to the system, regardless of sentence length or release status.
Leadership
Kevin Wright, PhD
Founding Director, Center for Correctional Solutions
Dr. Kevin Wright is an associate professor in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Arizona State University and the founding director of the Center for Correctional Solutions. His work focuses on corrections and the development of research, educational, and community-based partnerships that support growth and opportunity within correctional settings.
Dr. Wright has authored numerous peer-reviewed articles, chapters, and reports, and is the co-author (with Erik Maloney) of Imprisoned Minds: Lost Boys, Trapped Men, and Solutions from Within the Prison (Rutgers University Press, 2025). He developed and taught Arizona’s first Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program course and is a co-founder of the Arizona Transformation Project. His work has been recognized with multiple awards for teaching, mentorship, and engagement, including the American Society of Criminology Teaching Award, Education Volunteer of the Year from the Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry, Outstanding Master’s Mentor from the ASU Graduate College, and the Catalyst Award from the ASU Committee for Campus Inclusion.
Dr. Wright earned his PhD from Washington State University, where he was later named Distinguished Alumni of the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology.
Outside of his professional work, Kevin enjoys spending time with his family, woodworking, and exploring what’s around the next bend with his wife, Natasha.
Join Us
The Center for Correctional Solutions advances its work through sustained support from individuals and partners who believe in our mission, trust our approach, and value long-term investment in people and communities connected to correctional systems.
Support for CCS makes possible research, educational opportunities, and community-based initiatives that are intentionally designed, carefully stewarded, and grounded in partnership. We are especially grateful to donors who share our commitment to thoughtful, flexible support that allows the Center to respond to emerging needs and opportunities.
If you are interested in supporting the work of CCS, we welcome the opportunity to connect.
We are grateful for those who choose to support this work and help sustain it over time.