Associate Superintendent who Helped Reduce Violence at Clallam Bay Corrections Center Selected as New Superintendent

 

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                    April 2, 2009

The Associate Superintendent who helped reduce violence at Clallam Bay Corrections Center was selected as the new Superintendent, the Department of Corrections announced today.

Ron Fraker, 63, who started at the prison in 1990 as a correctional officer, has been the Acting Superintendent since January when former Superintendent Karen Brunson retired.

“Clallam Bay has some unique challenges that require a talented, experienced Superintendent,” Deputy Prisons Director Dan Pacholke said. “Inmates there tend to be younger and more likely to have committed a violent offense, so you’ve got to have a steady leader.”

The prison, located on the northwest tip of the Olympic Peninsula, has seen a significant reduction in violent incidents in recent years. There was a 16 percent reduction in violent incidents between 2007 and 2008, during the time when Fraker was Associate Superintendent of Security and Operations.

“Ron’s appointment reinforces DOC’s commitment to maintaining safe prisons and how much his efforts are appreciated,” said Prisons Director Dick Morgan, who is a former Clallam Bay Superintendent himself. “This is not a case where we just wanted to maintain the status quo. We want to give Ron the opportunity to continue the outstanding work he’s done so far.”

Fraker, a native of nearby Forks, served 20 years in the U.S. Air Force before he began working at Clallam Bay Corrections Center. He is the first Superintendent at the prison to have started as a correctional officer.

“I think that helps me relate to our staff members,” Fraker said. “They know I understand what it’s like to work here and what it takes to succeed here.”

Fraker says key reasons for the reduction in violence include an increased focus on programs available to inmates and a philosophical change in how staff members interact with inmates.

“In the past if an inmate refused to come out of his cell we would automatically have officers forcibly extract him,” Fraker said. “Now our initial action is to use crisis negotiators in those situations, which reduced staff injuries and showed inmates that they don’t have to resort to violence.”

Clallam Bay Corrections Center, which opened in 1985, currently houses about 850 inmates in medium-, close- and maximum-security units.


-30-


Contact:  Chad Lewis, Communications Department, (360) 725-8817


Divider image - horizontal green bar