By Michelle Theirault Boots
Alaska Dispatch News
JUNEAU — Gov. Bill Walker announced Monday he had accepted the resignation of the commissioner of Alaska’s Department of Corrections after release of a scathing report that detailed widespread failures and dysfunction that may have led to deaths in Alaska jails.
Walker said he received the resignation of Ron Taylor on Sunday. At an 11 a.m. Monday news conference following release of the report, Walker said Walt Monegan, the former Anchorage police chief and Alaska commissioner of public safety, would temporarily take over the state’s prison system while a nationwide search for a new corrections commissioner takes place.
The outside review was ordered by Walker in August after a string of highly publicized inmate deaths that stirred public outcry and drew the attention of lawmakers.
Full story: Walker fires corrections commissioner after report finds failures in Alaska prisons