SPRINGFIELD — The governor’s office is confirming our report that one of Bruce Rauner’s first agency appointments since being sworn into office has resigned after less than three months on the job.

Donald Stolworthy
Donald Stolworthy

Interim Director of the Illinois Department of Corrections Donald Stolworthy has resigned his $150,000 a year position with the state.The report of Stolworthy’s resignation comes just days after the publication of study blasting insufficient medical care of inmates in IDOC, which is one of the country’s largest correctional agencies.

In March, Rauner appointed Stolworthy to lead the troubled agency, and the 54-year-old replacement for the retired S.A. “Tony” Godinez had not yet even been confirmed by the Senate.

At the time Rauner hired him, Stolworthy worked at the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of International Narcotic and Law Enforcement Affairs, where he assessed foreign prison systems and provided guidance to senior State Department officials. He also managed construction of five prisons in Iraq. Stolworthy started his corrections career in Alaska. He graduated from the University of Wyoming.

The governor’s office says Stolworthy submitted his resignation to the Republican governor this week, but will remain on the state payroll while a search for a replacement is underway.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You may use these HTML tags and attributes:

<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>