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| Bucks Warden Resigns After Turbulent Year |
| By Philadelphia Inquirer |
| Published: 02/11/2002 |
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After a year of turmoil at the Bucks County prison, Warden J. Allen Nesbitt resigned at the request of the county commissioners recently, saying he hoped 'to bring closure to these continuing criticisms.' He will be replaced temporarily by Willis E. Morton, who retired in 1999 from the New Jersey Department of Corrections as director of operations. In the meantime, the county will begin searching for a permanent successor. A grand-jury investigation into the fatal drug overdose of an inmate in January 2001 found 'widespread' contraband trafficking, resulting in charges against eight people. In May, three male corrections officers and an inmate counselor were arrested and accused of having sex with female prisoners. Two recent reports - from a state audit and a court-ordered task force - called for changes in the treatment of female inmates and in other areas of prison operations. Commissioners Chairman Michael G. Fitzpatrick, who also heads the Prison Advisory Board, said the decision to seek Nesbitt's resignation was made over the last several weeks. Nesbitt submitted a letter of resignation on the afternoon of February 5 in a meeting with Kathleen Dominick, the county's chief operating officer. 'I personally concluded that in the best interest of the county . . . that it was time to make a change,' Fitzpatrick said yesterday. 'We will conduct a thorough, national and professional search' for Nesbitt's replacement. Nesbitt, 50, of Bethlehem, Pa., came to Bucks County in December 1990 from Lehigh County, where he led the Corrections Department. He has faced harsh criticism from District Attorney Diane E. Gibbons, who called for his resignation last year, and President Judge R. Barry McAndrews. McAndrews, an advisory member of the prison board, said yesterday that Nesbitt's response to the grand-jury report on drug trafficking, issued in July, was inadequate. 'I thought there was a level of incompetence. That was my position then, and I'm glad there has been a change,' he said. 'Something was happening there all the time.' Publicly, commissioners have expressed support for Nesbitt, but Commissioner Sandra A. Miller said yesterday that her doubts about Nesbitt's fitness for office began last spring when the charges were filed against prison officers for sexual misconduct. In his letter to Commissioners Fitzpatrick, Miller and Charles H. Martin, Nesbitt said he came to Bucks County 'to contribute to its rich heritage for correctional progressiveness.' |
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