NASHVILLE - Gov. Bill Haslam has tapped a veteran Tennessee prison official as the state's new commissioner of the Department of Correction.
Tony Parker, 52, replaces Derrick Schofield, who announced earlier this month that he is leaving at the end of June to take a job as executive vice president in Florida for continuum of care for GEO Group, a for-profit prison company formerly known as Wackenhut.
Parker's new role becomes effective on this Sunday.
"Tony Parker has spent his life dedicated to serving our state through the correctional system," Haslam said in a news release. "He put himself through school, earning his associate, bachelor's and master's degrees while being promoted through the ranks of the Department of Correction."
A 33-year veteran of the Tennessee Department of Correction, Parker has served under five gubernatorial administrations, beginning his career as a correctional officer at Lake County Regional Correctional Facility in 1983.
He worked his way up in the system, became a prison warden in Tiptonville and later at the Northwest Tennessee prison. In 2011, Parker was promoted to correctional administrator of TDOC's West Region.
"Tony understands the department and its mission from top to bottom, and I have no doubt he will do an outstanding job leading it," Haslam said.
While working for TDOC, Parker earned an associate degree in criminal justice from Dyersburg State Community College in 1993, a bachelor of science degree in criminal justice from the University of Tennessee at Martin in 1995 and a master of arts degree in security studies from the prestigious Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, Calif. in 2013.
Tennessee's corrections system is comprised of 14 prisons, collectively housing approximately 21,000 offenders. TDOC has more than 6,500 employees and supervises 79,000 offenders on probation, parole or community corrections.
Parker said the department "has more than 6,000 dedicated professionals that serve a critical role in protecting our citizens. For 33 years, I have had the privilege of being a member of that team, and I am honored and grateful that Governor Haslam has asked me to serve as their commissioner."
While the departing commissioner, Schofield, has undergone a number of controversies in in the past few years over changes in prisoner-assault definition policies and a new work schedule, Haslam has said he is sorry to see him go and wished that he would stay.
