Carceral Support Supervisor

Position Overview

TPCA is seeking a steady, detail‑oriented Carceral Support Supervisor to lead our response to letters, requests, and communications from incarcerated people across the country. This role sits at the heart of our mission: ensuring that people inside prisons and jails are heard, respected, and supported through timely, humane, and accurate engagement.

The Supervisor oversees a team of mediators and specialists, maintains high documentation standards, and helps transform individual stories into patterns that inform advocacy, policy, and organizational strategy. This is a leadership role for someone who can balance compassion with boundaries, urgency with clarity, and crisis navigation with calm, ethical judgment.

What You’ll Do

The Carceral Support Supervisor manages the full lifecycle of incoming correspondence and ensures that every response reflects TPCA’s values of dignity, accuracy, and safety.

Supervision & Case Oversight

• Lead and support a team of carceral mediators and specialists
• Review, prioritize, and assign incoming letters and requests
• Ensure responses are timely, consistent, and well‑documented
• Maintain clear, accessible systems for tracking communication

Triage & Rapid Response

• Monitor trends in correspondence to identify emerging issues
• Escalate verified systemic risks such as heat exposure, medical neglect, or retaliation
• Adjust caseloads and workflows during crises or high‑volume periods
• Apply safety‑first judgment when retaliation risk is suspected

Community Intelligence & Information Flow

• Identify patterns in reports from incarcerated people
• Share verified insights with Campaigns, Policy, Research, and Communications teams
• Help prevent misinformation by providing accurate, timely updates
• Support organizational strategy with grounded, real‑time intelligence

Mentorship & Team Development

• Coach mediators in ethical advocacy, boundary discipline, and trauma‑informed communication
• Model calm, consistent leadership under pressure
• Support pacing, rotation, and burnout prevention across the team

External & Internal Coordination

• Coordinate with advocacy partners and institutional contacts when appropriate
• Participate in briefings or calls related to carceral conditions
• Maintain strong relationships with internal teams to ensure information flows responsibly

Who Thrives in This Role

This position is ideal for someone who:

• Has strong carceral literacy and understands the realities of incarceration
• Communicates with clarity, empathy, and trauma‑informed discipline
• Navigates crisis conditions without losing steadiness
• Holds boundaries firmly and ethically
• Thinks in systems and can recognize patterns across many individual stories
• Values documentation, accuracy, and accountability

Baseline Expectations

• Maintain confidentiality and handle sensitive information responsibly
• Collaborate closely with Operations, Intake, Data/Correspondence, and Executive Leadership
• Escalate unclear or high‑risk situations promptly
• Maintain consistent, high‑quality documentation of all actions

Role Boundaries

To protect both the team and the people we serve, this role:

• Does not provide legal advice or predict legal outcomes
• Does not release testimony without required clearance
• Does not promise outcomes controlled by external agencies
• Does not act as a sole spokesperson in high‑risk media situations