Prison board chooses Kansan as new warden
Three months after the jail warden retired, the Washington County Prison Board has chosen a replacement from out of state from among 60 applicants.
After a short session that was closed to the public to discuss personnel matters, Controller Mike Namie nominated Jeffrey S. Fewell of Wyandotte County, Kan. Namie’s motion was seconded by Commissioner Nick Sherman, vice chairman of the prison board.
In a unanimous vote, the seven members of the board recommended that compensation be set at $105,000, pending salary board approval today. The three county commissioners and Namie comprise the salary board.
Warden Edward Strawn, who retired at the end of July, had been paid $88,026, so the change in pay for the position requires salary board action.
Fewell has been jail warden of the Adult Detention Center in Wyandotte County since 2014, when he was named Correctional Administrator of the Year by the American Jail Association.
He retired as a first sergeant with the U.S. Army in January 2008 after more than 20 years in Army corrections and with the Military Police Corps, serving domestically and abroad in Korea, Germany and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Fewell was a deputy sheriff at the Olathe (Kan.) Adult Detention Center before being hired by Wyandotte County in August 2008.
He has a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Phoenix, a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice with honors from the American Military University and an associate’s degree from Central Texas College. The American Jail Association has certified him as a jail manager.
According to Commission Chairman Diana Irey Vaughan, who is also in charge of the prison board, Fewell was interviewed twice via Zoom videoconference.