Washington DOC Secretary Harold Clarke Resigns; Accepts Top Massachusetts Post

[Greg]

Head of state's prison system resigns
Seattle Times

By Christina Siderius
Seattle Times staff reporter

The head of the state's prison system announced his resignation today.

After less than three years as Corrections Secretary, Harold Clarke is leaving to become commissioner of the Department of Corrections in Massachusetts, said DOC spokesman Chad Lewis. Clarke's last day will be Nov. 23.

Clarke accepted Gov. Christine Gregoire's offer to head Washington's prison system in January 2005. He had previously worked as Nebraska's corrections director.

Clarke announced to DOC staff his departure "with mixed emotions" in a letter today, commending staff for working in what he called "this most challenging profession."

DOC employees had been critical in the past of Clarke, claiming he was in over his head. The department was heavily criticized over the deaths of three police officers at the hands of three felons under state supervision, as well as a decision earlier this year to release scores of offenders from King County jails because of overcrowding.

The governor's office said Gregoire did not ask for the resignation.

Gregoire said in a statement that Clarke made "significant contributions to public safety in Washington."

"This has not been an easy task for Harold or his family, and, on behalf of the people of Washington, I thank him for his service," Gregoire said.

Gregoire's office said they are not yet announcing who will take Clarke's place.

Christina Siderius: csiderius@seattletimes.com

Copyright © 2007 The Seattle Times Company

[Greg]

Prison chief resigns to take Massachusetts post
Bellingham Herald

By DAVID AMMONS / AP Political Writer
Nov, 2, 2007

OLYMPIA, Wash. -- Washington prison chief Harold Clarke, acclaimed as one of the country's top corrections officials but a lightning rod here, is leaving and will become the top prison official in Massachusetts.

Gov. Chris Gregoire accepted his resignation Friday and thanked him for his "significant contributions to public safety in Washington."

The Democratic governor has been assailed by her Republican critics for the administration's handling of prisons, particularly for the crimes committed by ex-felons who return to the streets. Her GOP challenger for re-election next year, Dino Rossi, has made it a major campaign theme.

Gregoire did not request the resignation, her staff said, but she was clearly distressed at being seen as bumbling on the public safety issue. She served 12 years as Washington's attorney general and has long considered crime-fighting one of her strong suits.

She made glancing notice of the controversy in her terse statement. "This has not been an easy task for Harold or his family and on behalf of the people of Washington, I thank him for his service."

Gregoire did credit Clarke with designing a re-entry program for inmates who return to their home communities and said he has improved the state's 15 prisons.

Clarke's resignation is effective Nov. 23. He'll take over the top post in Massachusetts shortly thereafter.

The Boston Globe reported that Gov. Deval Patrick offered Clarke the job late Thursday, with a mandate to revamp the prison agency, with more emphasis on re-entry programs and staff training.

The newspaper described Clarke as a leader of national stature "at the top of the heap" among his peers. Clarke is president-elect of the American Correctional Association.

The Massachusetts system has 11,000 inmates, 18 facilities and a $500 million budget. That is somewhat smaller than Washington's system, which has 18,000 behind bars and 25,000 offenders under community supervision. The biennial budget is $1.8 billion.

Clarke had been Nebraska's longtime prison chief when Gregoire chose him to join her cabinet when she was inaugurated in January 2005. His wife, Marie, has been an assistant attorney general.

Clarke came under fire over the deaths of three King County lawmen at the hands of ex-cons last fall, followed by release of dozens of convicts, mostly in King County, before they served their full jail sentences for violating their probation.

Clarke also was criticized by the corrections employees, who complained about prison overcrowding and Clarke's own style and performance. Some union workers had called for a no-confidence vote, but it never was taken.

His departure was first rumored when a chief deputy, veteran prison official Eldon Vail, was brought in last month to help Clarke run the agency. But Gregoire's press secretary, Lars Erickson, said Clarke's departure was not engineered.

"He found another opportunity," Erickson said. Asked flatly if that means the governor didn't sack him or ask him to move on, he said, "That's correct."

In his brief letter of resignation, Clarke told the governor he appreciated her backing him and the agency. He sent Department of Corrections staffers a much longer letter saying he had mixed feelings about leaving and outlined a long list of accomplishments.

Rossi's campaign hadn't directly rapped Clarke, but has railed against Gregoire's handling of crime and corrections. Spokeswoman Jill Strait told The Associated Press on Friday: "I don't blame Director Clarke for wanting to leave the state. I'm sure he must be tired of being used as Gregoire's scapegoat."

[Greg]

As the article above mentions, Harold Clarke is President-elect of the American Correctional Association.

In my opinion, Harold Clarke made a lot of improvements to Washington DOC and was made the scapegoat for problems that he inherited. I'm sure he was looking for a new job ever since he was publicly reprimanded by Governor Gregoire for the purpose of saving Gregoire's political bacon.

Washington DOC just lost a good man.

[robeans]

I will say that I am surprised you like him that much. I haven't been around for most of the changes he has made and I do believe the thing with the cops being killed in King County was crap but he is fairly shady. There are some bad ties with him ACA and some of the prison contractors. There was a lot of bad stuff with our expansion and the contractor, which btw was a Nebraska firm.

He is underly despised by a majority of our senior staff and when the announcement was made, there were a lot of hoots and hollers.

[Greg]

I know Clarke was not liked by a lot of staff, but he was light-years better than his predecessor. Former DOC Secretary Joe Lehman was an absolute joke as a DOC Secretary. When his son was convicted of child molestation and Lehman tried to pull strings to get his son's sentence reduced, I was absolutely sickened by his behavior.

Not long after all of that took place, Governor Gregoire assumed office and saw to it that sending Joe Lehman packing and naming Harold Clarke DOC Secretary was one of her first acts. I cannot help but think that naming ACA Vice-President Harold Clarke as DOC Secretary and the subsequent drive toward ACA accreditation was very intentional on Gregoire's part.

Gregoire, as former State Attorney General, certainly must have had boatloads of first-hand knowledge of how susceptible DOC is to lawsuits and how many lawsuits DOC has lost over the years. One of the chief benefits of ACA accreditation is that it makes a prison system less susceptible to losing lawsuits based upon conditions of confinement.

I know that staff have had it up to their ears with ACA accreditation and all of the dog-and-pony shows that go along with it. This has made Clarke very unpopular. That is not his fault, however; he had a mandate from the Governor to accomplish accreditation.

I've met Harold Clarke several times, and he seemed to be a man of genuine integrity. Joe Lehman had no integrity, and I was glad to see him go. The pace of change under Harold Clarke was perhaps too fast for DOC to absorb. DOC people at all levels seem to enjoy seeing their leadership overthrown, and I think that is why so many people are glad to see him go. DOC people HATE change. Perversely, people seem to be more glad at Clarke's departure than they were at Lehman's departure.

In my opinion, if Harold Clarke had stayed around for many more years, we would have seen some great improvements in Washington DOC. We may yet see that under a different Secretary; only time will tell. From what I have heard of Clarke, one of his chief failings was failing to get the buy-in of those who were immediately below him. That's a pity, because I think he had some good ideas.

I can only imagine that Harold Clarke has been looking for a new job ever since he was publicly reprimanded by Governor Gregoire so she could save her own political bacon. That public reprimand pretty much gave the press and the community corrections folks carte blanche to dogpile on Clarke. The problems that Clarke was chastised for (crimes committed by convicts on community supervision) are systemic problems in DOC that predate Clarke by decades.

The public in Washington state (or any other state, for that matter) must realize that the chief alternative to letting convicts out on community supervision/parole is to keep them locked up for their entire sentence. The cost of that would be so prohibitive that the public would never stand for that. The other alternative would be to stop sending criminals to prison.

All of that being said, having Eldon Vail in charge at DOC is not a bad thing. At least Vail spent most of his career in WA DOC. I think that Vail will be better able to get the cooperation of his subordinates. I knew that when the announcement of Vail's return was made that something was up. I've met him a couple of times, and he seemed like he understood what was happening on the ground-level. I've also had the impression that Vail was forced out as Deputy Secretary of DOC when Clarke took over. Vail is probably feeling pretty good that he sat out the storm that Clarke just went through. That gives him a good measure of "plausible deniability"; he doesn't have any of the taint of the Clarke administration on him.

With the Governor's election a year away, I seriously doubt that anybody will accept the post of WA DOC Secretary on a permanent basis until either Gregoire is re-elected or Rossi takes office. Rossi would be likely to sack anybody installed by Gregoire. One political insider I have talked to who is connected with the state Democratic party has said that the general sentiment in Olympia is that Gregoire will not be reelected.

Sooo...any bets on how long some of the Nebraska transplants stick around after Clarke's departure? Isn't WSP Supt Uttecht (sp) one of them? I know that MCC Supt. Quinn is one of the Nebraska crowd.

[robeans]

You definitely can make a more informed decision than I.

The one thing that I hope for is that someone comes in and reels in Correctional Industries. They are raking state over the coals and no one will do anything. My biggest beef is with the uniforms. We have had some guys do a research paper and found that they could save the tax payers 900k by purchasing uniforms from a outside vendor. I found out that CI only has to be within 30% of the nearest bid, above or below, and the contract automatically goes to them. That is friggin NUTS.

But anyway, as long as I keep gettin payed, I'll be happy.

[thursco]

CI? Do you mean the inmates make your uniforms?

[robeans]

Oh yeah, CI, or Correctional Industries, makes everything from the uniforms to inmates clothing to license plates to street signs. It's a semi private/government company.

Our uniforms look decent enough but are horribly made, last a couple of months and fit really bad.

[thursco]

That sucks! I thought that you guys received uniform allowances for some reason. So your uniforms are issued by DoC and are made by the inmates? I'm a little surprised there. What about other gear? I'm assuming firearms are locked away in an armory, so you probably don't have an assigned firearm. What about mace (do you guys carry any?) cuffs, flashlights, etc?

[robeans]

Cuffs depend on your position, but if you need em you'll get em.

Firearms are not assigned, you get a random pulled sample when needed. OC is only available during emergencies.

Everything else, from duty gear to boots is on you. You may get duty gear if you are on an armed post like the hospital or transport. It's wicked ridiculous if you ask me. They stress professionalism but give us crappy uniforms and have little directives for appearance.

As you can tell this is a sensitive topic for me.