Times-Herald staff report
Vallejo Times Herald
NAPA, Calif. — Napa County has hired Lenard Vare as its director of corrections.
Vare, a warden at the High Desert State Prison near Las Vegas, will assume his Napa County duties Aug. 18, overseeing the 264-bed-capacity county jail and a staff of 84 employees, primarily correctional officers and technicians.
The detention department’s 2008-2009 budget, including medical services, tops $11.5 million.
County Executive Officer Nancy Watt said Vare’s track record in Nevada “shows his commitment to collaboration and teamwork, especially regarding evidence-based practices to reduce repeat offenders.”
Vare said the focus of the jail should be on protecting the public, but “there is a great need to provide positive programming and other services that would reduce recidivism.”
Napa County is working on a master plan for its adult correctional system. It may include a new, expanded or remodeled jail and expanded programming and alternatives to incarceration such as electronic monitoring.
Copyright 2008 The Times-Herald