New jails chief leaving retirement to take state post

Published 10:41 pm Wednesday, January 9, 2008

OLYMPIA — Gov. Chris Gregoire on Wednesday named veteran insider Eldon Vail the new secretary of the embattled Department of Corrections.

She is counting on Vail, who has 31 years experience in the department, to rebuild the public’s trust in how the agency deals with convicted criminals when they’re in prison and when they’re out.

“I’m confident he will focus every tool in his arsenal to meet the number one priority for corrections: public safety,” she said in a prepared statement.

Vail also faces significant challenges within the department, where some corrections officers nearly mutinied under the departed Harold Clarke.

Clarke left Nov. 23 to run the prison system in Massachusetts. Gregoire named Vail as interim secretary.

Rep. Kirk Pearson, R- Monroe, who was a vocal critic of Clarke’s leadership, said hiring Vail was “a smart move.”

“Eldon will bring in some stability, and I hope we won’t have any more faux pas of letting felons back on the street when they shouldn’t be there.”

Pearson was referring to the deaths of three King County law enforcement officers in separate incidents in 2006 that involved felons under community supervision.

Clarke faced the wrath of the public, and, to some extent, Gregoire, again last February.

At that time, the department ordered early release for dozens of felons who had been locked up in King and Snohomish county jails for violating terms of their community supervision.

Vail was not working in the department at the time and did not comment on those incidents.

Instead, he looked to the future, when the department must carry out a number of initiatives, such as one to improve programs for offenders re-entering communities.

He said he also wants to work on reducing the complexity of the agency’s operation and improving communications with employees, lawmakers and the public.

“I don’t think we’ve always embraced openness and clarity,” he said.

And another goal is to get community corrections officers “out from behind the desk and into the field.”

Vail, 56, will earn an annual salary of $147,000.

For Vail, this job marks the start of a second career in the agency.

He retired in May 2006 after a 31-year career in which his last post was prisons deputy secretary.

“I was just tired. I needed to get away. The break was good,” he said. “I feel I’m ready for this job. I’m here for a while.”

Reporter Jerry Cornfield: 360-352-8623 or jcornfieldheraldnet.com.