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You might think of Heidi Washington as the chief of 40,000 people scattered¹ across the state in 30 different camps. Except she has much more power over them than any political leader in this nation has over their constituents².

And her job is not only to take care of her people, but to keep us safe from them. She’s the director of the Michigan Department of Corrections, which is anything but an easy job.

Michigan’s prison system has gotten a lot of attention in recent years, in part because it costs so much – almost two billion dollars a year.

Prisons were once a relatively³ modest expense. Michigan had less than 8,000 prisoners in the early 1970s. Then, we had the idea that we could solve the drug problem by locking up everyone caught with them.

That helped push the prison population to a peak of 51,000 ten years ago. “Prisons were a real growth industry for a while,” she said wryly⁴.

Michigan has since modified its sentencing policy, and the prison population has declined to 40,317. Most corrections experts agree that’s still too many.

“I don’t know what that number should be, but I know we aren’t there yet,” she told me when I visited her Lansing office yesterday. She is a big believer in education, and job training, and is especially proud of Vocational Village, a unique skills trades training program in Ionia.

Earlier this week, she showed it off to a major figure in the automotive industry, hoping to interest him in employing her graduates. Department of Corrections spokesperson Chris Gautz told me Michigan has made great strides in recent years in reducing its recidivism⁵ rate, defined as the percentage of released inmates⁶ who return to prison within three years.

Close to half did 20 years ago. Now, it’s under 30%, although county and local officials sometimes complain they land back in their jails instead.

There’s no question that Washington has one of the harder jobs in state government.

There’s great pressure to reduce the prison budget, some of it from the same politicians who fight efforts to reduce sentences, so they can appear tough on crime. Prison officials are trying to do more to prepare inmates to be ready for the outside world; someone who has been behind bars for 30 years is like a time traveler from a world without the internet or smart phones.

Heidi Washington doesn’t seem to take that, or any part of her job lightly. She became director two years ago, in the aftermath of the Aramark food scandal, but has worked for corrections nearly twenty years, and has been a warden⁷ in two prisons.

Though she’s an ardent⁸ conservative, she believes prisons are a core function of state government. She opposes privatized prisons, was an outspoken⁹ critic of Aramark, and gave me the feeling she’d prefer not dealing¹⁰ with a private food services contractor¹¹ at all. Last week, she visited an Upper Peninsula prison where the inmates raise and train dogs.

Her teenage daughter really wants a dog. Washington probably could have just taken one home. But instead, “I filled out an application,” she said, smiling. If being dedicated¹² to her job is part of the criteria¹³, I have a strong hunch¹⁴ she’ll be judged fit to adopt that German Shepherd.

1 scattered   

adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的

参考例句：

• Gathering up his scattered papers,he pushed them into his case.他把散乱的文件收拾起来，塞进文件夹里。

2 constituents   

n.选民( constituent的名词复数 )；成分；构成部分；要素

参考例句：

• She has the full support of her constituents. 她得到本区选民的全力支持。
• Hydrogen and oxygen are the constituents of water. 氢和氧是水的主要成分。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

4 wryly   

adv. 挖苦地，嘲弄地

参考例句：

• Molly smiled rather wryly and said nothing. 莫莉苦笑着，一句话也没说。
• He smiled wryly, then closed his eyes and gnawed his lips. 他狞笑一声，就闭了眼睛，咬着嘴唇。 来自子夜部分

5 recidivism   

n.累犯，再犯

参考例句：

• Many areas and work units have experienced no recidivism at all for as long as ten or more years.不少地区和单位出现了连续几年、十几年没有发生重新犯罪的好典型。
• It needs to supplement the personality factor to confirm the ordinary recidivism.在普通累犯成立的条件中,应增加罪犯的人格因素。

6 inmates   

n.囚犯( inmate的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• One of the inmates has escaped. 被收容的人中有一个逃跑了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The inmates were moved to an undisclosed location. 监狱里的囚犯被转移到一个秘密处所。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 warden   

n.监察员，监狱长，看守人，监护人

参考例句：

• He is the warden of an old people's home.他是一家养老院的管理员。
• The warden of the prison signed the release.监狱长签发释放令。

8 ardent   

adj.热情的，热烈的，强烈的，烈性的

参考例句：

• He's an ardent supporter of the local football team.他是本地足球队的热情支持者。
• Ardent expectations were held by his parents for his college career.他父母对他的大学学习抱着殷切的期望。

9 outspoken   

adj.直言无讳的，坦率的，坦白无隐的

参考例句：

• He was outspoken in his criticism.他在批评中直言不讳。
• She is an outspoken critic of the school system in this city.她是这座城市里学校制度的坦率的批评者。

10 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

11 contractor   

n.订约人，承包人，收缩肌

参考例句：

• The Tokyo contractor was asked to kick $ 6000 back as commission.那个东京的承包商被要求退还6000美元作为佣金。
• The style of house the contractor builds depends partly on the lay of the land.承包商所建房屋的式样，有几分要看地势而定。

12 dedicated   

adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的

参考例句：

• He dedicated his life to the cause of education.他献身于教育事业。
• His whole energies are dedicated to improve the design.他的全部精力都放在改进这项设计上了。

13 criteria   

n.标准

参考例句：

• The main criterion is value for money.主要的标准是钱要用得划算。
• There are strict criteria for inclusion in the competition.参赛的标准很严格。

14 hunch   

n.预感，直觉

参考例句：

• I have a hunch that he didn't really want to go.我有这么一种感觉，他并不真正想去。
• I had a hunch that Susan and I would work well together.我有预感和苏珊共事会很融洽。