New corrections superintendent wants public to be more aware of what happens behind locked doors

LACONIA — Adam M. Cunningham, who took over last week as superintendent of the Belknap County Department of Corrections, sees his career as having come full circle.

When Cunningham started his career in law enforcement more than 20 years ago, he was a correctional officer in a county jail in Northern California.

Now Cunningham, 41, has taken charge of the 72-bed facility which contains inmates who are awaiting the court disposition of their cases or who have been sentenced to one year or less confinement for misdemeanor crimes.

Cunningham replaces Keith Gray, who retired effective last Friday after heading the department for five years. During that time the county built an $8 million facility which stresses programs that aim to give inmates the support or treatment they need to increase the likelihood they will stay out of trouble once they are released. Programs which enhance that community corrections model include parenting classes, Bible study, anger management sessions, and AA and NA meetings.

Cunningham first worked as a corrections officer in the Placer County (California) Jail, a 500-inmate facility between Sacramento and Lake Tahoe. Four years later he took a job with the Sacramento Police Department where he worked first as a patrol officer, as a school resource officer, department recruiter, and helped to run the department’s volunteer program. After 14 years he moved to the California Department of Corrections where he investigated incidents and suspected law-breaking and professional misconduct by officers.

During this most recent chapter in his career, Cunningham and his wife began thinking about where they would like to live after he retired. After visiting New Hampshire last year they decided to move to the Granite State in part, he said, because lakes and mountains reminded them of Placer County. They sold the house they had just finished building in California and moved to Belmont. In late June he saw a job posting for the corrections superintendent position and applied.

Cunningham said he hopes to better acquaint the public with the work that the 52 full- and part-time staffers perform inside the facility.

“Working in corrections, a lot of what (corrections officers and others) do is beyond locked doors,” he said. “People don’t get to see the professionalism.”

The environment in which the staff works can take its toll.

“Maintaining a professional demeanor among all the negativity can be very challenging,” he said.

While Cunningham said he inherited a well-run operation from Gray, he admitted that he is still trying to come up to speed.

“It’s like drinking from a fire hose,” he said of getting acquainted with the different programs, procedures and jargon.

“People who work in corrections need to remember that inmates are our neighbors,” he said. “We will sooner or later meet them on the street or in the grocery store. We need to make a positive impact on people before they walk back out of here.”

Because of the COVID crisis, the correction facility’s population is about half of what it was before the pandemic. Pre-COVID, the number of inmates hovered between 75 and 80. Today it is closer to 40, 35 of whom are awaiting disposition of their cases in court.

Cunningham said he is eager for the full range of community corrections services to resume once the COVID-19 threat has abated.