Oct. 5
TEXAS: TDCJ executive director retiring in December The executive director of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice said Tuesday he will retire at the end of the year. Gary L. Johnson, 49, has headed the prison system since August 2001 and plans to leave Dec. 31. "This is the right time to step down," Johnson said. "I've worn many hats in this agency during the past 27 years and have greatly enjoyed each position ... but it's time for me to take a deep breath." Johnson joined the agency, then called the Texas Department of Corrections, as a correctional officer in 1973. He left but returned in 1977, and three years later he was promoted to sergeant. In 1985, Johnson was named assistant warden at the Ferguson Unit. In 1989 he became the senior warden at the system's Galveston hospital unit and worked as a warden at two other units before becoming a regional director in March 1995. A year later, he was named director of the prison system's Institutional Division. During his tenure as executive director, the prison system emerged from federal oversight that spanned three decades as the result of a prison reform lawsuit. He also oversaw the implementation of programs to help inmates adjust to society after their release. Johnson said much work remains but that he was pleased with the progress. Johnson is credited with streamlining how the prison system does business and undertaking a review of all operations in 2003, when the prison system was ordered to reduce its budget by $240 million and eliminate 1,700 jobs during 2004-05. Texas Board of Criminal Justice chairwoman Christina Melton Crain praised Johnson's leadership and said he has been a "tremendous role model for his peers at other government agencies." An interim executive director is to be appointed by month's end.
