By PATRICK JACKSON,
The News Journal
Posted Tuesday, December 5, 2006
DOVER -- Correction Commissioner Stanley W. Taylor Jr. said Monday he will retire on Feb. 1 after 11 years in the job, having overseen the state's biggest prison-building program and some of the department's biggest controversies.
Taylor, 55, spent 30 years in the department, starting as a corrections officer in 1976 and rising to the top job in 1995 during Democratic Sen. Tom Carper's first term as governor.
He will step down under the cloud of a continuing U.S. Justice Department civil rights investigation focusing on the state's inmate medical care, launched after articles in The News Journal in 2005 exposed substandard care.
The department he leaves behind is straining to house nearly 7,000 inmates just five years after a $180 million, 2,500-bed prison expansion program, and also is struggling to hire and retain corrections officers.
"I can't say that the last couple of years in particular has been fun," Taylor said Monday. "At the same time, it's part of the responsibility in a job like this."
Gov. Ruth Ann Minner praised Taylor for his efforts to develop treatment programs for drug and alcohol abusers, creation of detention centers for parole violators and the prison expansion that started in the late 1990s and was completed in 2001.
"We are fortunate to have had Stan serve as our commissioner for more than a decade and I am truly sorry to see him go," Minner said. "His leadership and commitment to his work will make him difficult to replace."
Minner named no replacement for Taylor. The cabinet post pays $142,300 a year, and the nominee would require Senate confirmation.
Carl C. Danberg, now coming to the end of his term as attorney general, has long been considered Taylor's likely successor.
Danberg is a former top assistant to Taylor and has recently been working as a liaison between the Justice Department and the Department of Correction during the investigation.
Danberg is vacationing, but in a statement issued by his office he said Minner has not approached him about the job.
"It would be an honor to serve in Gov. Minner's cabinet," Danberg said. "But the governor has not contacted me about a job."
Taylor said he has been thinking of retirement for some time.
"It's a difficult job with a lot of demands from a lot of different directions, and 30 years seemed like the right point in time to do it," Taylor said. "That's a pretty good career in any field."
Recent years have been difficult for the department, with corrections officer recruitment a constant problem, resulting in heavy overtime and resentment in the ranks. That problem flared in the summer of 2004, which also saw a nasty incident in the Delaware Correctional Center near Smyrna.
An inmate took a prison counselor hostage and sexually assaulted her before he was shot and killed by a department SWAT team. The woman counselor filed a federal civil rights suit and settled out of court last year for $1.65 million.
That uproar was followed in 2005 by revelations of substandard prison health care provided by a private contractor.
The News Journal published stories highlighting AIDS-related inmate deaths and suicides over the past four years; allegations by inmates of poor medical treatment for cancer, meningitis and hepatitis; and a no-bid $25.9 million contract awarded to St. Louis-based Correctional Medical Services.
Some of Taylor's critics have called for his resignation because of the string of problems.
Hoping for new approach
Several said Monday that Taylor should be the last person to climb from watching over inmates to heading the department and that Minner should look outside for a new leader.
"I hope the governor takes the opportunity to bring in leadership that are ready to make improvements to the Department of Correction's medical system," said Dover attorney Steve Hampton, who won an undisclosed out-of-court settlement with the prison health care provider in a wrongful-death lawsuit.
"There are going to be serious questions that need to be addressed and I don't think the people I've dealt with in corrections are up to that," he said.
Jeffrey K. Martin and Herbert G. Feuerhake, who represented counselor Cassandra Arnold in her lawsuit against the state following her hostage ordeal, issued a statement saying it's time for a change.
"We are hopeful that new leadership in the Department of Correction signals positive change to that department's culture and procedures," Miller and Feuerhake said. "There is no way to go but up."
Sen. James Vaughn, D-Clayton, said Taylor was "OK" as commissioner. Vaughn heads the Senate Adult and Juvenile Corrections Committee and is himself a former head of the department. Vaughn said he had not discussed a successor with Minner.
"I really can't say much one way or the other about it right now," he said. "I guess Stan decided it was time to go. Now we have to find a replacement."
Wilbur Justice, president of the Correctional Officers Association of Delaware, said he had no comment on Taylor's decision to leave or what the state should seek in a replacement.
Taylor said his department has been working closely and cooperatively with Justice Department investigators and hopes the Justice Department's findings and recommendations will be made public before he leaves.
"When this started, people said it could take two, three or even four years," Taylor said. "I can't say a lot about it right now because it's still confidential and I'm not going to put words in the Justice Department's mouth. But I'm hoping we will have an agreement worked out within a few weeks or at least a few months."
'Terrific opportunity'
Most observers agreed that a new direction is needed at the department.
"Overall, I think Stan did a good job," said Sen. Charles Copeland, R-West Farm, who has been a critic of the prison health system. "But I think this gives the governor a terrific opportunity to name someone who will be a more aggressive advocate for corrections."
Copeland said Taylor had a good knowledge of the department and its challenges, but too often was a good soldier -- trying to make the best of what money lawmakers gave him instead of making noise about things he knew the department needed.
"I think that led to some of the problems we're facing now," Copeland said. "We need someone who is going to be forceful in pushing an agenda."
But House Majority Leader Wayne Smith, R-Clair Manor, said Taylor's efforts have set the stage for a series of reforms.
"Stan has had his share of problems, but that's probably the toughest job in state government," Smith said. "I think some of the things he has done have set us up to deal with those issues."
Contact Patrick Jackson at 678-4274 or pjackson@delawareonline.com.
