I would like to congratulate Gov. Leavitt for appointing Pete Haun as director of corrections. Mr. Haun is making progress in turning around the prison system in Utah. There has not been a good director of corrections since Ernest Wright retired in 1978.
If a Pete Haun type of director had been in control of the prison at the time Ernest Wright left, Fred House would still be living and would not have become a victim of the siege of the John Singer farmhouse.I congratulate Mr. Haun for his leadership in trying to restore rehabilitation into the programs at the prison and for fighting for an equivalent pay scale for uniformed personnel. Proof that he is succeeding lies in the fact that no more horror stories have come out of the prison since he took over the position of director of corrections.
It is a big task to establish prison programs that strike a balance between rehabilitation and institutional security. Director Haun certainly seems to be the right man for the job.
Alfred Richardson
Founder, Utah State Prison Employees Association
Midvale