Rising up through the ranks of the New York City Department of Correction, William Fraser learned a lot about what it means to be a corrections officer, working with offenders day-in and day-out.  He also developed the skills necessary to lead the department, which he did as its commissioner from 2000 until 2003.

Now, after two years of retirement, Fraser will apply those skills elsewhere.  Recently, Monmouth County, New Jersey, Sheriff Joseph Oxley appointed him warden of the county's correctional institution.  According to Fraser, this is an opportunity for him to use the knowledge he gained from running the New York City Department of Correction to improve operations at a the Freehold Township facility, which houses over 1,200 inmates.

The Corrections Connection Network News (CCNN) recently caught up with Fraser and talked with him about his new endeavor.

Q: How did you become interested in the criminal justice field?

Fraser: It is something that I, kind of, aspired to.  When I left high school, I took the police test in 1968 to be [part of] a cadet-type program that the police department was running.  When the city went into a [budget] freeze, the opportunity never really presented itself, so I took the next test that came along in 1971 for correctional employment in New York City.  Again, because of the freeze, it was a while before I actually got called. 

I was notified in March of 1978 that the corrections [department] was interested in hiring and, at the time, I had just gotten married.  I was looking for a job [and] a career and I joined.

It was something I aspired to early on and then fell into afterwards.

I started out as a corrections officer in the New York City Department of Correction in the Correctional Institution for Men.

I stayed in the department for just short of 25 years and I rose through the ranks to be appointed commissioner by Mayor [Rudolph] Giuliani and then reappointed by Mayor Michael Bloomberg.  I returned from that position in January 2003.

Q: What has been your greatest accomplishment so far in your career?

Fraser: Well, in the early 90s, we were faced with a huge violence problem and gang proliferation.  And along with several people, including Commissioner Bernard Kerik at the time and Commissioner Mike Jacobson and several others, we helped develop and advance a TEAMS management system, a management tool much similar to Comstat used by NYPD.  We were a finalist in the John F. Kennedy School of Innovations in Government award from Harvard University.  We believed that the TEAMS concept was instrumental in seeing a 94 percent decrease in inmate-on-inmate and [inmate]-on-staff violence and over a 50 percent reduction in overtime spending.  We felt that it was very instrumental in boosting that morale of the agency considerably.

Q: How did climbing up through the ranks help you in your role as commissioner?

Fraser: I was the only person in the history of the agency to go through all nine ranks to reach commissioner.  I worked as a corrections officer, captain, assistant deputy warden, deputy warden, warden, assistant chief of a division, bureau chief of security for the entire department, chief of the department and commissioner.

It helped me in the sense that I have worked each rank.  I know the difficulties that are faced by the individuals in those ranks.  Working each rank also helped me develop my managerial skills in a progressive manner.  I think it helped me in the sense that I have worked both sides of the fence, shall we say, and it gave me a respect for what COs do and the challenges they face each day.  [It also gave me a respect for] the managerial responsibilities [that are necessary] to ensure the care, custody and control of inmates.

Q: When did this career opportunity in Monmouth County present itself?

Fraser: I was retired for almost two years and felt that I wanted to get back into working and this opportunity present itself with Sheriff Oxley [in] Monmouth County.  One of my favorite positions was when I was warden.  As warden, it gives you a much more hands-on ability to manage a facility directly.  I wanted to bring the skills I learned and see how it would play back in a diff environment.

Q: What are some of your goals in your current position?

Fraser: I feel I took over a jail that is an ACA accredited jail and its running well, but I would like to bring some of the managerial skills and techniques I learned growing up through the New York City system and see how some of that would integrate into Monmouth County.  [I hope to] reduce sick leave, increase morale, [implement] monitors and measures.  [I want to introduce a] computer database system so that [we] can monitor and measure the success of different programs [and] the different things a manager has to look at.

Q: What does it take to make it in the corrections field?

Fraser: Basically, if I can make it, anybody can.  Take it as a career.  Take pride and desire in the job, study your rules and regulations and policies and procedures.  Take the tests that are available to advance [you].  Go beyond just the daily routine to learn and develop your managerial skills.  As you develop them, move on up.  And always respect your fellow officers, but on the same token, you have to respect the inmates and make sure that they are being treated in a just manner.

It was a career that was very good to me.  It afforded me an opportunity to develop my own skills.  I never thought going in that I would attain the heights that I did or develop the skills that I did.  It was really a great training ground for me to develop as a person and in a business field.