OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — A former Washington Department of Corrections administrator who has been working in California will return to become state prison director.
The department announced Friday that Bernie Warner will be in charge of 13 Washington prisons, holding more than 16,000 offenders.
The 55-year-old began his corrections career in 1980 as a counselor at the Washington state Penitentiary and held administrative positions in the 1990s with the state Department of Corrections.
Since 2000 he has worked for prison agencies in Arizona, Florida and California, where he is chief deputy secretary of juvenile justice.
Warner takes the Washington job in October, succeeding Dick Morgan who retired in July.
