Department of Corrections Commissioner Ronald Taylor resigned yesterday following “troubling” findings of an administrative review of the agency.
Governor Bill Walker has appointed former Anchorage police chief and former state Public Safety commissioner Walt Monegan as the DOC acting commissioner.
The administrative review of the department by the governor’s Special Assistant Dean Williams and former FBI special agent Joe Hanlon found system “broken” and policies “outdated”.
Williams questioned Alaska’s use of inmate segregation…
Williams: “In the report I detailed the fact that I talked with four juveniles, who were 17-years-old, who were in solitary confinement 11 months, 12 months as of today’s date approximately. These were juveniles who escaped from the Kenai Youth facility, they assaulted staff there, they were charged with adult crimes. They have now spent 12 months in solitary confinement. It’s a problem. I don’t think that was the intention of the adult waiver law, I don’t think that’s what our intent was in terms of solitary confinement.”
Hanlon says Alaska’s training is “haphazard”.
Hanlon: “Most large law enforcement agencies, particularly those that have their own training academy, put their officers or agents through a basic course prior to going on the job. We found that this isn’t the case currently. In fact, some of the new hires are brought on board at individual facilities and generally will not get to the basic training for four to six months. We found one officer who did not attend the academy until he had 10 months on the job.”
Acting Commissioner Monegan was fired from his job as Public Safety Commissioner by former governor Sarah Palin’s administration during the “Troopergate” scandal of 2008.