Louisiana has a new prisons chief.
Gov. Landry promotes Gary Westcott to Secretary of the Department of Public Safety and Corrections.
“I’ve been successful at every level of law enforcement,” says Secretary Westcott, “and I know that this is going to be the biggest challenge I’ve had.”
Westcott was deputy secretary under Jimmy LeBlanc, who stepped down Thursday due to health reasons.
Westcott says he’s prepared for his new role.
“I’m not a micromanager,” Westcott says. “So I felt once I came here and learned a little bit more and got on the inside, I felt it was something that I really could do.”
Westcott says he plans on taking a proactive approach to running the DOC.
“I’m going to meet with each one on the leadership team,” says Westcott, “and we’re going to evaluate each one of their areas, and I’m going to have some serious conversations about them, about what we need to do moving forward, what kind of changes we need to make.”
Based on those meetings, he will decide on any potential operational changes.