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| Ga. Juvenile Justice Chief Gets Ax |
| By The Atlanta Journal-Constitution |
| Published: 08/18/2003 |
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Gov. Sonny Perdue fired the top official at the Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice on Wednesday, six weeks after a troubled Augusta youth prison was put into private hands and some 120 state employees lost their jobs. Perdue's office would not discuss specifics of the firing of Orlando Martinez, the department commissioner. Martinez was hired in 1999 by Gov. Roy Barnes, a Democrat, to help fix what a federal report called 'egregious' conditions in the state's juvenile prisons. But others, including two legislators, said the controversy at the Augusta Youth Development Campus was the major factor. At Martinez's direction, a private company was issued a $5.5 million contract last month to run the prison, which has been cited for management problems as far back as 1998 and is the subject of an ongoing GBI investigation into allegations of illegal drug activity and sex between staffers and inmates. The YDC privatization drew criticism from the state employees' union, advocates for children and area lawmakers. Like all state department heads, Martinez, 63, was asked late last year by Perdue to submit his resignation. He immediately had reapplied but, on Wednesday morning, was notified by Chief Executive Officer Jim Lientz that Perdue had decided to accept his resignation. Martinez, the highest-ranking Hispanic in Georgia's state government, had been chief of Colorado's juvenile system for 17 years. Gregory Maxey, the department's deputy commissioner, will serve as acting commissioner until Martinez's permanent replacement is selected, Perdue said in a statement. |
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