The Corrections Program Office (CPO) of the U.S. Department of Justice has a wide ranging set of responsibilities geared toward improving corrections. Among their responsibilities is the provision of training and technical assistance for priority issues affecting state corrections. In order to insure the annual plan was relevant, the CPO contracted with Thomas J.Quinn, Principal Consultant, to meet for a day each with two groups of state corrections commissioners. With 10-15 commissioners in the room, we successfully sorted through the many critical issues and were able to identify those areas most amenable for assistance from the CPO. This subsequently comprised the basis of the CPO training and technical assistance plan.