Director Cam Ward Receives the 2025 Addiction Policy Forum Pillar of Excellence Award

The 2025 Addiction Policy Forum Pillar of Excellence is awarded to Director Cam Ward

Presented annually, this award is to honor those in the field who have demonstrated exceptional leadership in improving our response to individuals with substance use disorders and communities in need.

Director Cam Ward has served as the Director of the Alabama Bureau of Pardons and Paroles (ABPP) since 2020. In this role, he is responsible for all agency operations in support of the Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles. Additionally, Director Ward was appointed by Gov. Kay Ivey to serve on her cabinet.

Director Ward has enhanced public safety in Alabama through evidence-based re-entry programming. Director Ward is recognized nationally for his work on reforming Alabama’s criminal justice system. Director Ward established and oversees the Perry County PREP Center, a program that provides comprehensive reentry and rehabilitation services to probationers and parolees across Alabama. The PREP Center creates meaningful opportunities for individuals to rebuild their lives and make positive contributions to their communities. The program opened in 2022 and maintains a zero percent recidivism rate to date, helping nearly 400 people find a positive path ahead. Director Ward has used Second Chance Act grant funding to duplicate the model across Alabama.

“PREP has become a best-practice and blueprint for what’s working in reentry,” ABPP Director Cam Ward said. “This is a life-changing program that provides the tools, knowledge and guidance – whether that’s job training, mental health counseling, or substance use treatment – for formerly incarcerated Alabamians to succeed in life after prison. Of course, this model and its success are only possible thanks to our great partners and our folks on the frontlines.”

Director Ward has championed evidence-based criminal justice reform throughout his career. Director Ward was elected to the Alabama House of Representatives in 2002, where he served for two terms. In 2010, he was elected to the Alabama Senate representing parts of Shelby, Bibb, and Chilton County. He was re-elected in 2012 and served as Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, a role he held for nine years. In the Alabama State Senate, he championed the Justice Reinvestment Initiative (JRI), a federal program that provides small grants to help states harness the power of data to confront urgent criminal justice challenges head-on. Using the findings from JRI, Director Ward led landmark legislation that included policies to strengthen community-based supervision, prioritize prison space for people convicted of violent and dangerous crimes, and promote evidence-based services and treatment for people receiving supervision in the community. After this policy was enacted, Alabama’s prison population fell 27 percent between 2015 and 2021.

Under Director Ward’s leadership, Alabama’s recidivism rate is declining. He has established nationally renowned reentry programs, which other states visit to learn from and replicate.