The Philadelphia Tribune
According to sources Governor–elect Tom Wolf will retain John E. Wetzel as secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections.
Former Governor Tom Corbett nominated Wetzel as secretary of the Department of Corrections on Dec. 17, 2010. He was unanimously confirmed by the State Senate on May 3, 2011. Secretary Wetzel is responsible for the management and operations of the Department of Corrections which houses more than 51,000 inmates, has approximately 15,000 employees, and a nearly $2 billion budget.
According to information of the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections website, Wetzel has more than 23 years of experience in the corrections field. His career began in 1989 as an officer at the Lebanon County Correctional Facility, followed by a transfer to the Berks County Prison, where he held the positions of correctional officer, treatment counselor, supervisor of treatment services and training academy director finally culminating to the position of warden of the Franklin County Jail in 2002. He was appointed as the corrections expert to the Pennsylvania Board of Pardons in June 2007 until his confirmation as secretary of corrections in 2011.
Wetzel has presented statewide and nationally on various topics from inmate labor issues, the mentally ill in corrections to jail staffing and conducting vulnerability assessments, as well as, having several articles published nationally, and books on jail staffing and vulnerability assessments. Additionally, he has been part of several efforts which have reduced jail population, to include leading a process in Franklin County where the jail population was reduced by 20 percent while at the same time the crime rate reduced also.
Full story: Wolf to retain Wetzel as secretary of corrections