After 18 year corrections career, MP man is trying something different

By ASHLEE STALLINGA

Mt. Pleasant News

Randy Stroud likes to try a little of everything.

The 47-year-old Mt. Pleasant resident worked at the Iowa State Penitentiary, a maximum-security prison, for 18 years, starting as a correctional officer. He was then a CERT officer, a hostage negotiator, training specialist, and assistant security director before leaving the Department of Corrections to be a consultant for the American Corrections Association.

?Once I got into [the prison system], I was asked to do a variety of [jobs],? Stroud said. ?It was nice to be able to ? try different things.?

And now he can add mediator to his resume, too.

Stroud said that even though he taught some training courses on conflict resolution, he didn?t think of it as a business until last fall, when people he knew were getting certified in mediation.

With recent law changes, which require couples that want a divorce and have children to attend at least one session with a mediator, there is an increasing need for mediation. So Stroud got certified, too.

He now works full time as a mediator, but still does consultations as an auditor, working around the country and evaluating the security of prisons.

But, according to Stroud, the younger you are, the more excitement you look for?and he?s not getting any younger. Working as a mediator and consultant provides a more positive environment than working for a prison.

Indeed, working alone in a small, one-room office is a far cry from his accounts of the work environment at the state penitentiary. Here, on Monroe Street in Mt. Pleasant, there are no more jailhouse fires and hidden weapons, no more prisoners starting fights.

What he works with now is mostly family divorce cases, per the new law. He also deals with a wide variety of workplace issues, and landlord/tenant disputes. A lot of times, such cases end up in small claims court.

?Mediation seems to provide an alternative,? Stroud said. ?If [mediation] doesn?t work, court is still an option.?

But mediation is the easier and less expensive route ? usually, a better option. And right now, working in mediation has been a great option for Stroud.

The best part of owning his own business is that his time is much more flexible, leaving more space for his family, he said. His wife, Marcy, is the director of the Forensic Psychiatric Hospital in Oakdale, a division within the Iowa Classification and Medical Center. She was also certified as a mediator.

He has four children as well: Ben Canby, 14, Pat Canby, 12, Kara Canby, 10, and Nate Stroud, 5.

Aside from leaving him a more flexible schedule, Stroud says that his new job is also more fulfilling, and more rewarding.

?There is a better chance to see more positive results,? Stroud said.

But he?s not saying that he didn?t enjoy his career at the prison.

?I did spend 18 years there ? but you have to be careful how you word that,? he joked. ?There were some unique experiences, and that?s a story in itself.?

He shared one story as an example: in 1996, remembers getting called in to the penitentiary at midnight to handle prisoners who were tearing up the cell house.

?They were starting fires and throwing things through the bars,? he said. ?It was like a movie.?

He and other employees had to search (or, as Stroud says, ?shake down?) every cell ? and there are about 100 cells.

?Of course, that wasn?t every day. Most days were fine,? Stroud said. ?But can you imagine that happening at your place of work??

Maybe it was all those years of spontaneous excitement that doesn?t let Stroud sit still. Aside from working as a mediator and consultant, he?s in the process of getting a contract to do leadership training. He can also do training sessions on safety, mental health, stress in the workplace, ethics, firearms, hostage negotiating, chemical agents and electric devices, among many others.

Meanwhile, he?s trying to get his master?s degree from Buena Vista, taking courses online. He has a degree in criminal justice from Indian Hills University, and got a bachelor?s degree from Kennedy-Western University in Wyoming. Because Kennedy-Western is not accredited, he has to finish some bachelor?s degree credits that didn?t transfer to Buena Vista before he can finish his master?s.

Stroud laughed as he explained it. ?I?m doing that in my spare time,? he said.