Senior Consultant
Mark E. Bolton
Mark E. Bolton is the retired Director of Louisville Metro Corrections, where he served for 11 years (2008–2019) and led one of the nation’s most complex urban correctional systems. His distinguished 40 year career in corrections spans service overseas and across multiple states and jurisdictions.
A graduate of Arizona State University with a B.S. in Criminal Science, Mark also completed the U.S. Department of Justice’s Executive Excellence Leadership and Management Program.
He began his career in 1979 with the Arizona Department of Corrections, advancing through roles as probation and parole officer, warden/institution superintendent, central office administrator, and Operations Director of Community Corrections. In 1992, he moved to the Pacific Northwest, where he spent 14 years as Deputy Director of the jail systems in Olympia and Seattle, Washington. During this period, he also worked in Iraq with the U.S. Department of Justice and the Iraqi National Prison System, helping implement United Nations human rights standards.
Mark has served on multiple boards and high-level justice policy committees. He was previously on faculty at the University of Louisville’s College of Justice Administration and has been featured on PBS Frontline (2014) and other reform-related documentaries, where his voice on criminal justice reform was prominently highlighted. Upon retirement, he was honored with the Louisville Defender Community Service Lifetime Achievement Award.
Today, Mark continues to champion criminal justice reform as an anti-corruption and civil rights advocate, while also volunteering in Latin America to build homes for local citizens. His decades of operational leadership, reform expertise, and national reputation make him a trusted advisor to clients navigating complex corrections challenges.
