Louisville Metro Government has a new corrections director. The new chief is Mark Bolton, who comes from Arizona, where he was the director of community corrections. Before that, he managed jails in Washington state and was an advisor for the Iraqi National Prison System.“I did spend some time at Abu Ghraib after we had some of the things that went on over there and really began to train staff in terms of some of the things they were doing wrong and what they needed to do to turn it around," he says.One of Bolton’s first duties will be to address prison overcrowding. He says he’s reviewed the Vision 2020 task force report on overcrowding at the Louisville jail and is prepared to address the problem.“Building your way out of it is a pretty expensive proposition," says Bolton. "I’m not saying that we’re going to need more bed space at some point moving forward. But certainly looking at some of those task force recommendations relative to overcrowding, looking at some evidence-based practices, looking at what’s working in other jurisdictions throughout the country, there are some great programs out there that are working.”Bolton replaces Tom Campbell, who retired in September after four years as corrections director.
