LANSING, Mich. — The warden of one of Ionia’s prisons has been honored as the National Warden of the Year.
Melinda “Mindy” Braman, warden of the Richard A. Handlon Correctional Facility in Ionia, recently was named the Warden of the Year by the North American Association of Wardens & Superintendents, the highest national honor available to individuals who oversee prison operations.
“I am proud and pleased that the North American Association of Wardens & Superintendents has recognized something that we have known in the MDOC for years, which is that Warden Melinda Braman is an exemplary leader who is not only making a difference in Michigan but is also advancing effective correctional practices nationally,” said Michigan Department of Corrections Director Heidi E. Washington. “First as a deputy warden and then as a warden, Mindy has helped lead the team that has made the Handlon Correctional Facility a national model as the first prison in the nation to operate a Vocational Village and the home of the Calvin Prison Initiative.
Braman was nominated for the award in late 2023 and was selected from a national pool of correctional facility leaders.
The Richard A. Handlon Correctional Facility is one of three prisons remaining in Ionia, which as recently as 2009 served as home to six prisons.
Handlon is a Level II prison that houses 1,200 inmates.
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