In her new position, McNeal will be responsible for the administration of grants awarded to community corrections agencies, and will oversee the state’s partnership with the agencies that provide community-based supervision to felony offenders.

McNeal will also assist with the implementation of the Justice Reinvestment Initiative, which aims to reduce recidivism through improved supervision and services for parolees.

McNeal has served as administrator for the Prisoner Review Board (formerly the Parole Board) since 2008. Prior to that, McNeal worked in community corrections, and also has worked at the Ellsworth Correctional Facility.

Deputy Secretary Kathleen Graves highlighted McNeal’s diverse experience in announcing the appointment as the new director. Graves pointed to McNeal’s experience in budgeting, data extraction and analysis, personnel management, project management and sentence computation.

“Marie brings a wealth of experience and knowledge of corrections to this new position,” said Graves. “She has been a tremendous asset to the agency in several diverse roles in the past, and her skills and knowledge will provide a real boost to our community corrections division.”

Graves said McNeal is familiar with evidence based practices, strategic planning and has worked with a wide variety of stakeholders in the criminal justice field over the years, including judges, prosecutors and, most recently in conjunction with the Attorney General’s office regarding board litigation matters. 

Prior to joining the Kansas Department of Corrections in 1998, McNeal worked for 9 ½ years in the travel industry, handling official government travel for the Department of the Army, Ft. Riley, and corporate travel for General Electric in Phoenix.