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March 21, 2006
OH: Reggie Wilkinson to retire as head of DOC
Article published Mar 20, 2006
State prisons director will retire next month
Wilkinson's tenure includes Lucasville riot, resumption of executions
The Associated Press
COLUMBUS — The director of the state prisons department is resigning at the end of April, ending a 15-year tenure that included the 1993 Lucasville prison riot and the return of Ohio’s death penalty.
Reginald Wilkinson, 55, will leave his post at the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction to become executive director of the Business Alliance on Higher Education and the Economy. The alliance is a nonprofit group that emphasizes the role Ohio colleges and universities play in the state’s economic growth.
Former Gov. George Voinovich appointed Wilkinson as the prisons department director in 1991 and Gov. Bob Taft reappointed him in 1999. He joined the department in 1973 and served as a warden, supervisor of training and deputy director before assuming the top post. As director, he makes $124,464 a year.
Ross County includes two prisons – Ross Correctional Institution and Chillicothe Correctional Institution – which employ about 1,200 people.
He oversaw the resolution of the 1993 riot at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in which one guard and nine inmates were killed. He also has supervised the execution of 20 inmates since the death penalty was reinstated in 1999.
Taft plans to appoint a new director before Wilkinson leaves on April 30.
About Reggie Wilkinson
Reginald A. Wilkinson has been employed by the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction since 1973.
He has served in a variety of positions including superintendent of the Corrections Training Academy, warden of the Dayton Correctional Institution, and deputy director of prisons. He was appointed Director of the Department in 1991.
He is a Past President of ACA, the Ohio Correctional and Court Services Association; the Ohio chapter of the National Association of Blacks in Criminal Justice; the State of Ohio Training Association, in addition to ASCA.
He has received numerous awards from a variety of organizations including the National Governors’ Association, the International Community Corrections Association, the National Association of Blacks in Criminal Justice, the Volunteers of America, the Ohio Community Corrections Organization, and the Ohio Correctional and Court Services Association. He is a recipient of the Michael Francke Award, the highest honor bestowed by ASCA, and the E. R. Cass Correctional Achievement Award, ACA’s most prestigious honor.
http://www.chillicothegazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060320/NEWS01/60320003
Posted by lois at March 21, 2006 08:39 AM