Wayne prison warden suddenly resigns

County officials baffled

By TOM KANE

HONESDALE, PA - Without leaving a trace behind, Wayne County Correction Facility Warden Craig Chambers resigned his position, which he took up three years ago.

He gave no reason.

“We’re surprised as much as you are,” Tony Herzog, chairman of the county prison board, told members of the press who attended the Wayne County Commissioners’ meeting on January 22.

The commissioners had no warning until a January 21 executive session.

A prison break occurred two weeks ago in which two inmates escaped for a few hours before they were apprehended. A maintenance worker, who was supervising the two inmates in the removal of snow from the recreation area open from the roof but surrounded by four walls, neglected to lock a door leading to the outside. The door was not connected to the prison’s alarm system. When the inmates noticed the failure, they later escaped through the door.

It was not certain if the break had influenced Chambers’ action.

“We simply don’t know why he resigned,” commissioner Brian Smith said.

Herzog praised the role Chambers had played in conducting the transition from the old prison, located behind the courthouse in Honesdale, to the new $16 million correction facility in Indian Orchard two months ago.

“We are very satisfied with the warden’s dedication to his work,” Herzog said. “He worked very hard in the opening of the new prison.”

Someone in the Pike County offices, who did not wish to be named, said that Chambers had been acting as a consultant with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) program, training Pike County correction officers in best correctional practices. He said it was ironic that, as an expert in the conducting of prisons, his prison had experienced a prison break in the early weeks of its opening.

No one in the county sheriff’s office could shed any light on the reasons for the resignation.

Deputy Warden Kevin Bishop could not be reached for comment.