Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear announced new appointments in the Justice and Public Safety cabinet Thursday, including a new secretary and a new commissioner of the embattled Department of Juvenile Justice.
The new appointments come amid a pattern of alleged mistreatment of teenagers housed at DJJ detention centers. In recent years, the DJJ has also seen several violent incidents at detention centers and chronic staffing shortages within the department.
A performance review of the DJJ’s Detention Division released earlier this year found that several of the department’s policies lack consistency and clarity. That review also found that between March and November 2023, officers at the Adair Regional Detention Center deployed pepper spray on juvenile inmates at more than 73 times the rate of pepper spray use at adult federal prisons.
Effective April 1, Randy White will take over as commissioner of the Department of Juvenile Justice. White is replacing former commissioner Vicki Reed, who resigned from the post on Jan. 1. He is the sixth commissioner of the department since 2018. Beshear expressed his support for White, and said the new commissioner’s background would help move the DJJ in the right direction.
“I think with Randy what we see is the best combination of the knowledge that we need to operate these facilities safely to make the changes we need to make, but also a deep commitment to these juveniles to try to help them, to try to get the services needed to reintegrate them with society,” Beshear said. “And if we do it right, to not see them in one of these detention facilities again.”
White retired in December after 27 years in the state’s Department of Corrections. Most recently, he served for over five years as the department’s deputy commissioner. He also previously served as the deputy commissioner of Adult Institutions, warden of Kentucky State Penitentiary and Green River Correctional Complex, deputy warden of Luther Luckett Correctional Complex.
A release from Beshear’s office also credits White with developing a Narcan program for the Department of Corrections, adding that Kentucky’s prison system was the first in the nation to train staff on how to use the medication that can temporarily reverse the effects of an opioid overdose.
“Kentucky is not the only state that has faced juvenile challenges lately. But Kentucky is the only state that has taken aggressive action,” White said Thursday.
In his time at the Department of Corrections, including time as a corrections office, White said he’s worked before with juvenile inmates as they were transferred from detention centers to prisons.
“Juveniles entering the criminal justice system, they're a much different population than they were 27 years ago. They're committing harsher crimes which require stronger rehabilitative programs,” White said. “For Kentucky to truly reduce the juvenile population, we must focus our efforts on alternatives to detention, education, programming, employment, and mental health. Our juveniles need our support.”
Keith Jackson will serve as the cabinet’s new secretary. He has been serving as the interim secretary since the retirement of former secretary Kerry Harvey in January. Jackson has served as the Justice and Public Safety Cabinet’s deputy secretary since 2021. Prior to that, he served as the commissioner of the Kentucky Department of Veteran Affairs.
“We are focused on protecting our heroes, fighting addiction, seeking justice for victims, reducing recidivism by building second chances and ensuring all Kentuckians are not only safe, but feel safe,” Jackson said in a press release from the governor’s office.
Mona Womack, who served as the cabinet’s chief of staff for over two years, has been named the new deputy secretary of the Justice and Public Safety Cabinet.
