As I wrote when his indictment and plea were announced on August 11th, I worked for Bill Weimer for seven years. I left Allvest, the private corrections company he helped found, in 1993, to pursue music composition more actively, and to get out of the corrections industry.At that time, Alaska's corrections industry, state and private, was turning more and more away from corrections, treatment and training. Under relentless pressure from the right, and from the victims' constituency, it was turning into the punishment industry. As my primary interest in the field was the rehabilitation and support networks of people about to be freed, 1993 was a good time to leave.
Early in Allvest's history, Bill actually was seriously interested in trying to create some model programs, that sought to make rehabilitation meaningful, and sought to seriously reduce criminal recidivism. But as time went by, and politicians showed little interest in making rehab work (it costs money), Weimer went with the flow.
My low point with Weimer was during the time of Cordova Center expansion. He was converting the large parking garage at the bottom of the building into new, expanded and integrated administrative and common areas. It was a good idea. The execution was awful, though.
The building itself, 130 Cordova Street, is questionably constructed on a hill that is sure to slide down into the Ship Creek basin if we have another Good Friday-level earthquake. One contractor told me that Pete Zamarello (who had the building constructed in the 1970s as condos) built it to see how far he could go, in terms of testing Anchorage building permits.
During the 1991-92 expansion project, in early February, the building's heating system had to be disconnected and rebuilt. The hundred or so residents in the building only had a very few electric heaters to heat their rooms. A big cold wave hit, and the rooms got so cold that residents and staff kept the faucets running all the time.
I brought up the problems with Weimer. He laughed, saying that the residents could complain all they wanted. If the Department of Corrections closed the center down until the heat was back on, they'd have to go back to prison, so he felt they'd keep quiet. He was right.
The high point of my relationship with Bill was shortly afterward, as he sought to have all of Allvest's Alaska facilities become accredited by the American Correctional Association. The process involved a lot of time and money, but assured a better environment for the rehabilitation of the residents. Bill backed my efforts as a lead person in the process, and we worked like a team, until all the facilities were accredited, or on track for it.
As I wrote back in August, I tried to warn Weimer away from Jerry Ward, who was then working in the Hickel administration as some sort of fixer. Sort of a Jerry the Plumber gig for Wally behind the scenes.
I think we'll be hearing more about Ward soon.
4 comments:
Even now when we try to talk to politicians about rehab that works, their eyes glaze over. I love how the Republicans try to make themselves look like modern day saints because they "hate abortion" but don't bother with much else.
I'm sad about Weimaraner because he seems to have genuinely started out as good but was seduced by the Dark Side. I'm glad that you worked for him, as painful as it must have been because I trust what you say.
Do you think his sentence is just?
On to something REALLY important, is the hair on Jerry Ward real or did he wear a toupee? I don't normally care, but he'd look like a game show host is he tried to sport a smile.
anon @ #2 - we don't know what his sentence will be, just what the prosecutor is recommending. Sedwick has fairly consistently gone lighter than their recommendations.
he was let of relatively lightly i think, but at least he seemed to have an acute idea of what it all meant, and was regretful and remorseful.
there was a distinct abscence of moral relativism, criticism of the court and/or the news media.
I too worked for Bill years ago. And people can say terrible things about him, and I have no doubt he was involved in some less than savory deals. However, my personal experience with Bill was that he was the kindest employeer I ever had. I was 7 months pregnant when the state abruptly pulled the funding for the mental health program I worked in at Cordova Center. Bill paid me severance, paid for my health insurance out of his own pocket, and all the hospital fees when my son was born.
We worked for him at the Tundra Center in Bethel and he was always gracious and kind to my family.
I'm sorry to see Bill brought low.
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