By Eric Schwartz
eschwartz@chronline.com
After six years, there will be a new person in charge at the Lewis County Jail.
Chandra Brady recently announced her decision to take a job as jail manager for the Olympia Police Department after serving as jail administrator for Lewis County since 2004.
Brady — who will work her last day next week — will manage a jail with 28 beds and 11 full-time employees, a stark change from the 365 beds and 56 employees at the Lewis County Jail.
“They’re a facility that’s really feeling the bulge of overcrowding,” Brady said.
The decision came down to a desire to spend more time with family, and less time on the road, Brady said.
The San Antonio, Texas native said she spends three hours a day on the road, driving from her home in Olympia to daycare in Onalaska, and then on to the jail.
“I’m being given the gift of three hours a day,” she said.
Brady began work in the Lewis County Jail as a corrections officer in 1999 after five years in Cowlitz County.
She was promoted to sergeant in 2001, and was selected to run the jail in 2004 as a new facility adjoining the Lewis County Law and Justice Center took the place of the old jail.
With Brady’s departure, 19-year Lewis County Jail employee Kevin Hanson has been selected to run the jail.
The 44-year-old Olympia native began work for the jail as a corrections officer in 1991.
He was promoted to sergeant in 1995, and became lieutenant in 2006. He worked with Brady as the county transitioned to its new jail in 2004, he said, and has a ground-up understanding of the facility and its procedures.
Hanson said his goal will be to create a safe environment for inmates and jail employees.
“The taxpayers have said they want this to be a tough, no-frills jail that is still safe,” Hanson said.
Hanson said the jail has set a goal of $1.7 million in revenue in 2010. He said that the budget didn’t call for any staff cuts in the first quarter of this year, and that he hopes to push through the year without additional layoffs.
“We hope not to cut people,” Hanson said. “Our goal is to preserve staff we have and still meet the needs of the facility and the community.”
Brady said it was simply time to make Olympia her full-time home.
She said she plans to pursue a master’s degree and spend more time with her husband and five children now that the days of 3-hour car rides have come to an end.
“It’s hard to go, but it’s time to go,” she said.
Sheriff Steve Mansfield praised Brady for her work at the jail, and said Hanson was chosen as replacement because of his understanding of the system and years of experience at the jail.
“Those guys coming out still say it’s the worst place they’ve ever been, but they will also say they’ve been treated well by my staff,” Mansfield said.
He said Brady will be missed.
“She’s done an outstanding job,” Mansfield said. “She not only managed the jail well, but she was able to bring a new level of professionalism.”
