From NKAA, Notable Kentucky African Americans Database (main entry)
Crews, Cookie
Cookie Crews, from Hardy, KY, is the first African American female to be named a warden in Kentucky. Her most recent appointment came in November 2009 when she was named warden of the Kentucky State Reformatory (KSR) in LaGrange, KY, the state's largest prison.Cookie Crews's career began in January 1984 when she was a correctional officer at the Kentucky Correctional Institution for Women (KCIW) in Peewee Valley, KY. Crews was continuously promoted over the years, and in 2002 she was named Deputy Warden III at the Luther Luckett Correctional Complex (LLCC) in La Grange, KY, where she also served as acting warden for seven months. In 2004, she was named warden of the Frankfort Career Development Center in Frankfort, KY. In May 2006 she was named acting warden at KCIW, becoming the warden a month later.
Cookie Crews is a graduate of Eastern Kentucky University, where she majored in corrections and public relations. In May of 2012, Crews was promoted to Health Services Administrator with the Department of Corrections. In 2012, she also served as president of Southern States Correctional Association (SSCA). On May 13, 2020, Crews was appointed The Commissioner of the Kentucky Department of Corrections.
For more, see the Kentucky Department of Corrections Commissioner's Office website; "Cookie Crews now in charge of prison health care," 6/01/2012, at the KSVF12 website; and "EKU alum, Cookie Crews, appointed to lead the Kentucky Department of Corrections," 5/15/2020.