State corrections officials today named new leaders in the Wake and Durham probation offices as well as a regional office after the arrest of two probationers on murder charges exposed mismanagement in the offices.
Diane Isaacs was named assistant chief for community corrections in a 21-county region that covers Wake, Durham and Cumberland counties. She had been serving as assistant interim manager for the probation office in Wake County and previously was a manager for a district covering Hoke and Scotland counties.
Margaret Brewer was named judicial district manager in Wake County. She will oversee a staff of 141 employees who supervise about 7,400 offenders. Brewer previously served as chief probation/parole officer in Wake County.
More after the jump.
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In Durham County, John Lee was named judicial district manager, overseeing 86 employees who supervise more than 4,300 offenders. Lee has been interim manager in Durham since May. He previously managed the probation office for Caswell and Person counties.
Community Corrections Director Robert Guy named new the managers, effective Sept. 2.
Guy dismantled the previous leadership in the Durham and Wake probation office after problems in the offices came to light following the arrests of probationers Demario Atwater, 22, and Laurence Lovette Jr., 17
Atwater and Lovette are charged with first-degree murder in connection the March kidnapping and shooting death of UNC-Chapel Hill student body president Eve Carson. Lovette is accused of the January killing of Duke University graduate student Abhijit Mahato.
Lovette had gone nearly two months without ever meeting his probation officers, while Atwater's case was passed on to 10 different officers, and he went more than a year without hearing from any probation officers, despite racking up an additional gun conviction.
The National Institute of Corrections, a federal agency, was called in last spring to do an independent evaluation of the state's probation system after the problems were exposed.
The agency found that probation offices grapple with heavy caseloads, high turnover, an information disconnect between adult and juvenile courts, and archaic computer systems that make it difficult to share information. These findings were similar to a report the same agency made on the state's probation system in 2004.
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