District Attorney Seth Williams’ office — including staff members involved in the ‘Porngate’ scandal — attended a full-day training seminar on Friday, after which the seminar supervisor said he felt that "past issues have been effectively dealt."

Assistant District Attorneys Frank Fina, Marc Costanza, Patrick Blessington and other office supervisors participated in a seminar called “Connecting with Respect,” led by workplace culture specialist Paul Meshanko. In early September, Williams mandated 'sensitivity training' in lieu of termination for the three prosecutors' involvement in a pornographic email on state-owned computers.

In a statement, Meshanko praised the office for its engagement at the seminar:

“The entire team, including those involved with the recently publicized email issues, were extremely engaged and participative during Friday’s session.

By exploring how blind spots, stereotypes and biases can lead to inappropriate actions and behaviors, both consciously and unconsciously, I believe the entire group is now much more aware of steps they can take to minimize the degree to which subtle demonstrations of sexism, racism and/or homophobia can taint the otherwise outstanding work done by your office.

Nobody is perfect all the time. By working on individual action plans for behavior change, I think your team members have also demonstrated a great deal of personal accountability for owning their own improvement efforts.

The Code of Cooperation exercise completed at the end of the day sets a very high standard for the expectations that the team members will hold one another accountable for going forward.

You have a very strong, capable team. My professional opinion is that past issues have been effectively dealt with and that everyone is emerging with a greater level of personal awareness and resolve to do better in the future. While keeping in mind the important lessons learned, it’s time to move on and tackle the more pressing issues and work your office is performing for the City of Philadelphia.”

Fina, Costanza and Blessington previously worked for the Attorney General’s office, at which time they were involved in a pornographic email chain on state-owned computers. The emails also contained racist and sexist images.

Williams said that he and the three prosecutors involved in ‘Porngate’ found the training helpful.

“Frank, Mark and Patrick are great prosecutors who clearly made a big mistake,” Williams said. “They have learned from their mistakes. This training along with continued reinforcement and supervision will allow us to move the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office forward and do what we do best – work to make the city a safer and more honest place to live, work and raise a family.”