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Steven Canterbury currently works as the Administrative Director of the Courts of West Virginia. As such, he is responsible for not only the administration of the Supreme Court, but of all of the Magistrate, Family, and Circuit Courts as well as the probation officers and law libraries.
From June 1997 through June 2005, Canterbury served as the Executive Director of the West Virginia Regional Jail and Correctional Facility Authority. In that role, he guided the Authority in the performance of its two fundamental missions: the operation of the state’s ten regional jails (which altogether house approximately 3,750 inmates) and the construction of all of West Virginia’s correctional facilities (jails, prisons, and juvenile centers). Canterbury directed the completion of over $389 million worth of construction while managing an operational budget of some $48 million annually. He was directly responsible for constructing and/or renovating 29 buildings in the State.
During his time at the Regional Jail Authority, Canterbury was asked to work on several other state projects. He was, for example, intimately involved with the development of the Division of Veterans Affairs’ Nursing Home in Clarksburg. He coordinated the architectural selection committee and, when the Director of Veterans Affairs suddenly departed, Canterbury kept the project on track, successfully obtaining maximum federal funding for the $22 million project, one of only ten projects nationwide to get such funds.
Furthermore, beginning in 1998 in partnership with Cabell County Judge Dan O’Hanlon, Canterbury was instrumental in developing the "Courtroom of the Future" project that allows inmates to be involved in court processes through closed circuit technology without transporting them from the security of the regional jails. According to Fortune magazine, this system was the first statewide application in the nation. In its first full year of use, the Regional Jail Authority saved over $1.2 million in transportation costs and has continued to save at least that much each year since, totaling some $6.5 million..
Canterbury was also instrumental in the creation of the Community Corrections projects throughout the state. Working with Northern Panhandle Judge Martin Gaughan and Chief Probation Officer Jim Lee, Canterbury was instrumental in working with the Legislature to author and ultimately pass the landmark Community Corrections Act of 2000.
Canterbury has been involved in numerous political campaigns, including the upset victory for Justice Elliott "Spike" Maynard in 1996. His independent consulting work ranged from lobbying for the Coal Association to founding a camp for pre-sixteen-year-old mothers and their babies. He also has written, directed, and/or produced a number of sales and industrial videos, receiving a Telly in 1989 for writing and producing a short entitled ""Til Death Do Us Part."
Canterbury was raised in southernmost West Virginia, graduating from Woodrow Wilson High School in 1971. H attended Davidson College where, in 1975, he graduated cum laude with high honors in English. His graduate work took him to the University of California at Berkeley where he received his Masters Degree in English and was advanced to Candidacy for the Ph. D. in English in 1984. Canterbury taught English at the College of Marin and at the University of California at Berkeley until 1988 when he returned to West Virginia.
Canterbury is an avid collector of mid-twentieth century modern decorative and fine art. He now lives in a rural part of Kanawha County with his wife Nancy, a clinical psychologist, and their teenager Rachel.