By Jared Nelson jnelson@timesleader.net Justice Bill Cunningham spoke to CCES fifth-graders about the history of the Black Patch region Friday.

The Kentucky Department of Corrections honored Ken­tucky Supreme Court Justice Bill Cunningham with the agency’s top award Wednes­day, the 2008 Lucille Hurt Robuck “Commitment to Corrections” Award.

Justice Cunningham has devoted his entire career to the field of Criminal Justice. He is a noted Kentucky historian and an accomplished author. Before becoming a member of the state’s highest court, he spent 35 years in the state’s criminal justice system, serving as a circuit judge for Lyon, Trigg and Caldwell counties, a commonwealth attorney, city attorney and public defender. He also served as a hearing officer for the Kentucky Board of Claims and as a trial commissioner.

Also honored at the awards ceremony was Tom Simpson, who was named “Warden of the Year.” Simpson, a 28-year veteran of the Department of Corrections, is warden at the Kentucky State Penitentiary in Eddyville, the state’s only maximum-security prison.

Warren Lambert was named “Probation & Parole Supervisor of the Year.” Lambert, an 11-year veteran of Corrections, was promoted to District 6 Supervisor in September 2004.

The “Rookie of the Year” award was presented to Michael Hartigan. Hartigan is the Maintenance Superin­tendent at Kentucky State Penitentiary and was honored for his professionalism, re­­sourcefulness and competence when he supervised the upgrade of KSP’s water plant, which is over 60 years old.

The agency’s top awards, called “Commissioner’s Awards,” were presented to:

Larry Chandler, recently retired warden of the Kentucky State Reformatory; Todd G. Woodward, Professional Stan­dards Administrator, Division of Probation & Parole; John­athan G. Hall, OIS Admin­istrator, Central Office; Shan­non Blalock, Probation & Parole Officer, District 1; Debbie Judd, Procedures Offi­cer, Kentucky State Re­­form­atory; and Mark Robin­son, Director of Administrative Services for the Department.