"Kentuckian to lead state prisons" is the headline to a story just posted on the Indianapolis Star website. A quote:
Gov.-elect Mitch Daniels has named a Kentucky prisons official to be Indiana's new commissioner of the Department of Correction.[Updated 1/6/05] Mary Beth Schneider of the Indianapolis Star reports today on the Donahue appointment in a story headlined: "Kentucky official is hired to lead Indiana's prisons." A quote:J. David Donahue, 45, will replace the outgoing commissioner, Evelyn Ridley-Turner, who was paid $100,132.
Donahue currently is deputy commissioner for the Kentucky Department of Corrections in Frankfort, Ky., and is responsible there for supervision of support services in administrative services, corrections training, budget management, correctional industries, offender information and information technology.
He previously worked as senior vice president and chief operating officer for the U.S. Corrections Corp. in Louisville from 1994 to 1998 and was a case management coordinator for the U.S. Department of Justice federal correctional institution in Fort Worth, Texas, from 1988 to 1990.
Daniels said Donahue is the first non-Hoosier appointed to his administration.
"Indiana needs fresh ideas to tackle the problems in this very troubled agency," Daniels said. "The Department of Correction generated the second highest number of critical reports during our 'due diligence' review of state government. Indiana pays Kentucky to guard its prisoners while two new facilities sit virtually empty, and DOC has more managers than guards."
Asked if Daniels would pursue privatization of prisons, Jane Jankowski, Daniels' press secretary, said the governor-elect's orders to Donahue are the same as to all department heads -- "to look at options that would use taxpayer dollars more wisely. What isn't acceptable to him is the status quo, which is paying Kentuckians to operate a private facility when some of our buildings are empty."In a similarly headlined story, Lesley Stedman Weidenbener of the Louisville Courier Journal has a story today that begins:She added that given that arrangement, "essentially, we already have privatization."
Donahue -- who has experience working in both public and privately operated corrections systems -- said he "absolutely will evaluate all resources available" for Indiana to provide the best prison system.
Gov.-elect Mitch Daniels has named an official from the Kentucky Department of Corrections to head the agency that oversees prisons in Indiana.The ILB's Newly Updated Organization Chart. Access the latest update of the EIS organization chart of the new Daniels administration here. Posted by Marcia Oddi at January 5, 2005 04:01 PMDave Donahue will leave his post as deputy commissioner of Kentucky's department to be the commissioner of the Indiana Department of Correction.
A native of Bardstown, Ky., Donahue is the first person from outside Indiana appointed by Daniels.
"This is a great opportunity to be involved in the vibrant change that Governor Daniels is bringing to the table," Donahue said yesterday in a telephone interview from his office in Frankfort. "I'm excited about his vision, his message, the fact that he has given me the opportunity."