Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker appoints new prisons commissioner
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — Mayor Cherelle Parker on Monday appointed Michael R. Resnick to be the next Philadelphia Prisons Commissioner.
Resnick, 58, has worked in several public safety and criminal justice system positions in the city and Maryland, according to the announcement from the mayor's office. He served as acting prisons commissioner in Philadelphia in 2016 when the city received a MacArthur Foundation grant to reform the system and ease overcrowding. He also oversaw Baltimore City jails as a commissioner in Maryland's Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services, the mayor's office said.
Resnick has also served as director of public safety and other related positions in Philadelphia.
"I am cognizant of the issues facing the department, and the challenges that lie ahead," Resnick said in the announcement. "But I think everyone needs to remember that every day, brave men and women are hard at work in our jails, performing a difficult job helping to keep our city safe. I look forward to joining them and improving their working conditions and the conditions of the incarcerated people in our custody."
Resnick will take over for former commissioner Blanche Carney, who announced her retirement from the department in late March.
Carney made history as the first female prisons commissioner in Philadelphia in 2016.
During Carney's final year in the role, multiple inmates escaped from the Philadelphia prison system, including Gino Hagenkotter from the Riverside Correctional Facility and Ameen Hurst and Nasir Grant from the Philadelphia Industrial Correctional Center in Holmesburg. Shayne Pryor and Alleem Bordan both escaped police custody while being taken from correctional facilities to local hospitals.
A man was stabbed several times Monday evening at a Philadelphia detention center, but is in stable condition, police said.
"Our prison system is in transition," Parker said in the announcement, "as are many prisons nationwide. My administration is committed to making every change needed to implement a well-run prison system."