Corrections Director A.T. Wall II is pleased to announce that Shelley Cortese of Barrington, R.I., a Probation & Parole Supervisor with the Rhode Island Department of Corrections since January of 2006, has been promoted to Assistant Administrator, Probation & Parole, effective immediately. In announcing her promotion, Director Wall noted, “We are pleased that Shelley has accepted our offer to step into this important role within the Division of Rehabilitative Services. She has proven to be a capable administrator and an excellent case manager during her seven years in our Probation & Parole Unit.”
Ms. Cortese will co-manage, along with Assistant Administrator for Probation & Parole Richard Delfino, the daily operations of the RIDOC’s adult Probation & Parole Unit. She will share the oversight of approximately 130 full-time staff and nearly 27,000 men and women who are under the Department’s supervision on probation and parole in the community.
Ms. Cortese has been in state service since July of 2000 when she became a Social Caseworker with the Department of Children, Youth, and Families. The following May, she joined the RIDOC as a Probation & Parole Officer II. Prior to becoming a state employee, Ms. Cortese served as a Violence Prevention Program Facilitiator/Supervisor with Northern RI Community Services in Providence, and as a Batterer Intervention Program Facilitator/Supervisor with Emerge in Cambridge, Mass.
Ms. Cortese is a Rhode Island College alumna, having received a Master of Arts in Agency Counseling in 2000 and a Bachelor of Arts in Justice Studies/Sociology in 1996. She replaces Sisan Smallman, who retired after 14 years of dedicated service in August.