Guinn dumps prison director, jobs-rehab chief, promotes welfare director

Brendan Riley

Tuesday, May 23, 2000 | 11:14 a.m.

CARSON CITY - Nevada's prison director and jobs-rehabilitation chief were dumped today by Gov. Kenny Guinn in his biggest cabinet-level shakeup since taking office in January 1998.

The GOP governor replaced prisons director Bob Bayer with Jackie Crawford, currently warden at the Lovelock Correctional Center. She becomes the first woman to run Nevada's burgeoning prison system.

At Lovelock, the new warden will be Craig Farwell, currently associate warden of programs.

Guinn replaced Carol Jackson, head of the Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation, with his state welfare chief, Myla Florence. Florence's deputy administrator, Mike Willden, takes over at Welfare.

Both the prison and DETR directors' jobs pay $92,914 a year.

The governor also named Rich Wyett as chairman of the state Parole Board, replacing Don Denison who's retiring in July. Wyett will earn $77,822 yearly.

Wyett had run the state Parole and Probation Department until retiring two years ago - after a state service career spanning more than 25 years. Wyett started as a Highway Patrol trooper and also served on the Parole Board from 1991 to 1993 before taking over as division director.

Jackson, DETR chief since late 1993, had come under intense criticism last December after she abruptly fired Stan Jones, veteran director of the state Employment Security Division which is within DETR.

Jones' firing was the latest of several similar actions against upper-level employees within the agency in recent years, and triggered complaints from coworkers and former DETR employees. Some key legislators also expressed concern, and Guinn's office ended up meeting with a group of Jones' allies calling for her ouster.

In Bayer's case, he had convinced Guinn to push for a prison health care privatization plan during the 1999 Legislature. But the plan backfired when prison medical workers, whose jobs were on the line, convinced lawmakers to reject the plan.

The prison system also was in the spotlight because of staffing shortages at rural prisons in Lovelock and Ely. Bayer had insisted the shortages didn't compromise safety, but admitted the situation put added strain on workers who commute long miles to their jobs.