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DOC commissioner Williams on prison safety and reforms

In late January, Gov. Walker tapped Dean Williams to head the state Dept. of Corrections. Williams joined Bristol Bay and Beyondthis week, following a prison assault that left a Dillingham man hospitalized. 

This interview aired Feb. 12 on Bristol Bay and Beyond

This week a Dillingham man in custody at jail in Kenai wasassaulted by another inmate. He was medevaced with life threatening injuries to an Anchorage hospital. As of Friday, few official details had been provided. The incident raised local concerns along statewide discussions about safety inside Alaska's jails. Last summer Gov. Bill Walker commissioned a report of Alaska’s correctional facilities, and that report, published in November, has prompted the Governor to promise reforms. One of his first actions was to appoint one of the report’s two authors to head up the Corrections Department. Dean Williams has spent three decades working for the state, mostly in the Departments of Corrections and Law. He took over as DOC commissioner on January 28 and now oversees the custody and care of approximately 5000 inmates in state jails, and another 7-800 more in community jails. When I spoke with Williams Thursday, I asked first for any information about at the incident this week at Wildwood.