The Division of Adult Correction and Juvenile Justice has named Sarah Cobb as the new Deputy Director for Auxiliary Services for the state prison system. She will assist Director of Prisons Kenneth Lassiter in overseeing programs in the state’s 55 prisons.
Cobb, 49, had been assistant director for the Reentry, Programs and Services section, a position with oversight of prisons’ programs and education, as well as Community Corrections programs. Her work in that position has included chairing the workgroup establishing designated reentry facilities for prisons.
Cobb began her career with the Department of Public Safety in 1993 as a correctional officer and then as a case manager at Blanch Youth Institution, which closed in 1999.
She was promoted to Dan River Prison Work Farm in 1996 to assist with the facility’s opening preparations in 1997. While there, she held the positions of sergeant, lieutenant, program supervisor and assistant superintendent for programs.
In 2007, Cobb joined the former Piedmont Region Office for Prisons, where she was the region program coordinator until the consolidation of the prison regions in 2015.
She then became the evidence-based practices coordinator for prisons, initially for the prisons section and then the Reentry Programs and Services section. In the latter role, Cobb chaired the risk/needs assessment implementation workgroup that became a vital part of offender assessment and case planning procedures.
Cobb holds a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Appalachian State University and is a graduate of the DPS Correctional Leadership Development Program.
She is a master trainer for both motivational Interviewing and evidence-based practices for case management. She has served as a team leader for the prisons hostage negotiation team since its inception in 1998.