Museum Recognizes Neicole Molden as the First Female Warden at the Wyoming State Pen

The Wyoming State Penitentiary Warden is being recognized by the Carbon County Museum in Rawlins as the first female to hold the position.

She was featured in their Justice and Law Enforcement exhibit, which highlights the history of prisons in Carbon County.

K2 Radio News has interviewed Warden Neicole Molden to talk about the canine program the Department of Corrections launched.

The exhibit highlights Molden's efforts to keep prisoners engaged and active through programs like GED courses, religious services, and skills training.

These initiatives aim to facilitate inmate rehabilitation.

Molden worked at the Casper College for about two years, starting in 2007 as a security officer and then a student activities coordinator.

She was a correctional unit manager with the Wyoming Medium Correctional Institute in Torrington for 8 years before moving on as an Associate Warden with the Wyoming Women's Center in Lusk.

She became the Warden at the Wyoming State Penitentiary in 2021.

Now, a little information about the prison. It is a 700-bed maximum security prison housing inmates ranging from minimum sentences all the way up to death row.

She is responsible for administration, supervision, coordination, and monitoring of all programming staff assigned to the facility.

"I'm a pretty involved person, especially when it comes to the operations and the inmates," Molden told K2 Radio when she became the Warden three years ago.

"I try to stay really involved in the inmate population to keep them busy, to keep them educated. I think I'll do more...I'm looking at teaching some classes myself. When I was at the women's center I taught a confidence class for the women as the associate warden, so I plan on doing something like that for the men too. But I just want to find more activities to keep them busy, to give them more pro-social skills."

Congratulations, Warden Molden on your recognition.