Governor Names New Colorado Prison Director
DENVER (AP) — The former head of the Wisconsin's Department of Corrections has been named to replace slain Colorado Corrections Director Tom Clements.
Gov. John Hickenlooper said Friday that Rick Raemisch has experience as a deputy sheriff, prosecutor, elected sheriff and head of a state corrections department where he was responsible for more than 22,000 inmates, more than 73,000 probation or parolees and approximately 1,000 juveniles in institutions or on supervision.
Raemisch replaces Clements, who was fatally shot in March at his home. The lone suspect in Clements' killing, Evan Ebel, 28, had been released from prison in January, four years earlier than authorities intended, because of a paperwork error. Ebel was killed in a shootout in Texas days after Clements was killed.
Roger Werholtz, who was named Colorado's interim prisons director, immediately began a review of all early prisoner releases, the death penalty and other issues.
Raemisch joined Wisconsin's Department of Corrections in 2003 and for the next four years worked as division administrator of community corrections, in which he had oversight of 68,000 probation and parolees. He then worked as deputy secretary and later as head of the department.
Since 2011, Raemisch has worked as dean of the School of Human and Protective Services at Madison College in Madison, overseeing programs in emergency medical services, criminal justice, fire, human services and early childcare education.
Hickenlooper said he is relying on Raemisch's background as an expert in corrections and his diverse background in criminal justice.
"He has a great understanding of crime and the criminal mind from his work as a sheriff and prosecutor. He also understands that most people who are incarcerated will return to our communities and need job skills and treatment. Rick is committed to implementing the strategic plan that Tom Clements established for the Department of Corrections, and we are pleased he is coming to Colorado," Hickenlooper said in a statement.
Raemisch agreed that prisoners can be rehabilitated.
"I consider myself a strong law-and-order individual, but I also believe that people can change," Raemisch said. "More than 90 percent of all inmates return to where they came from. They will go back in one of two ways: They will either go back angry and, likely, re-offend; or they will go back prepared to re-enter the community and be law-abiding citizens."
Last week, state officials said Colorado judges have corrected the sentences of 124 inmates or parolees after Ebel was inadvertently released early.
Hickenlooper ordered the audit of the files of all inmates whose sentencing records might contain errors similar to the one in Ebel's case. The Department of Corrections said that it had identified 1,211 with possibly confusing or erroneous sentencing orders.
Ebel was supposed to serve eight- and four-year sentences consecutively after accepting a plea deal for assaulting a prison officer. But the judge who approved the plea deal failed to say that the terms were consecutive, so a court clerk recorded that they were to be served concurrently, or at the same time, officials said.
That was the information that went to the state prisons, officials said, so Ebel was freed in January without serving the additional four years.
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