ROCK SPRING, GA - Hard work during Dale Herndon's 26-year career with the Georgia Department of Corrections has culminated in his promotion to one of the top spots in the state prison system.

Herndon was officially installed as the new warden of Walker State Prison at an Assumption of Leadership ceremony on Tuesday, July 18.

In addition to family, friends and honored guests, more than 50 DOC administrators, officers and staff attended the event, which also honored the achievements of outgoing warden Dwight Hamrick.

The ceremony included the posting of colors by the LaFayette High School color guard. Hamrick, now warden at Rutledge State Prison in Columbus, removed the Georgia state flag and presented it to DOC Commissioner James E. Donald to signify his relinquishing of his post at Walker. Donald then presented the flag to new warden Herndon, who replaced it in its post as a sign of the change in responsibility.

The ceremony is a new event recently initiated by the DOC to recognize the importance of the warden positions in Georgia's 37 state prisons, said Derrick Schofield, DOC facilities operations manager.

State Sen. Jeff Mullis of Chickamauga addressed the assembly, saying that he was proud of the fact that the governor and the General Assembly accomplished making Georgia's teachers the highest paid in the Southeast. “And now it's time to do the same for the state's corrections officers and support staff,” he said.

On that note Commissioner Donald took the occasion to announce some good news about DOC wages: newly hired officers will earn a 12 percent pay raise in their first 18 months, promoted officer's raises will increase from 5 percent to 10 percent, and merit raises are being reinstated for non-security personnel.

“And we'll be going back to the General Assembly next year to see if we can do even better,” Donald added.

Herndon said he hopes the pay incentives will attract new corrections officers and staff, which are much needed at Walker as well as statewide. “Hopefully that will help get people to come interview with us,” he said regarding both security and support positions, such as food service, at the prison.

Herndon, 45, is a native of Forsyth, 60 miles south of Atlanta.

Before he took on the job of overseeing 615 inmates, 125 staff and managing a $4 million budget at Walker State Prison, he worked his way up through the ranks from an entry-level corrections officer.

In 1979 he began attending Columbus State University's criminal justice program while working at the state prison in Jackson, Ga. By 1989 he had become deputy warden of security at Hays State Prison in Trion, and transferred to Walker in 1993.

Herndon says that as warden he has to wear several hats, from teacher to role model, and administrator to counselor and disciplinarian.

“I'm the leader, and I have to set the tone, which is a positive one,” he said. “When the staff, and the inmates, respond to that we have a smooth-running facility.”

Herndon stresses that rehabilitation isn't an automatic situation for inmates, “They have to make up their mind to accept it. We'll provide the tools and means for them to do what they need to do to get out of prison, but they have to buy into the program.”

Among the resources inmates have is job training, and the prison has two notable programs for that.

The metal shop at Walker manufactures beds and lockers for the state prison system as well as grills for the state parks. Machining and welding are two skills taught there that can prove valuable for ex-convicts.

Herndon expresses a great deal of pride in the Walker State Prison firefighter program, rated among the top of all emergency crews in the state.

“I think what's most notable about our program is the fact that we train our own,” he said. “Last year we responded to 570 calls, and we're the only crew in a 50-mile radius that is certified by the Georgia Emergency Management Agency to respond to chemical spills.”

The warden said he's encouraged by $48 million new state funding for the prison system, including 1,400 beds for new “pre-release” centers - work camps that will provide vocational training for inmates in the last two years of their sentence.

He hopes for increased success of the DOC's Take Five program, which encourages local industries to hire ex-cons.

“If they can't get hired and start drawing a decent paycheck, they're going to go back to the same environment that got them in trouble to begin with,” he said.