Interim warden faces challenge in riot's aftermath

By Neil Nisperos

Staff Writer

CHINO -- As interim warden of the California Institution for Men, Aref Fakhoury has his hands full.

Earlier this month, hundreds of inmates rioted at the prison's Reception Center West, injuring scores of inmates and rendering the reception center uninhabitable.

Fakhoury, who gave Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger a tour of the facility in the days following the riot, now finds himself responsible for managing the aftermath.

"Any time you have crisis, the first thing that comes to mind is to contain and control the event," he said. "What you want to make sure is it does not spread further and you control it. When everything has calmed down, the job does not stop from that point."

Fakhoury said he is now working to tend to the damage and displacement of nearly 1,300 inmates, who have been moved to the nearby Heman G. Stark Youth Correctional Facility and state prisons in Norco, Imperial and Soledad.

"The fact that we house people in different prisons -- in Imperial, Norco and Stark -- that impact is not just on me but an impact on them," he said.

He had only been on the job as head of CIM since May when the state called on his predecessor, Mike Poulos, to take on an interim position as head of the state's maximum-security prisons.

Fakhoury began his career as a corrections officer in Norco, but his story begins in Jordan, where he was born and attended high school.

After his family emigrated to the United States, Fakhoury settled in Ontario, where he completed high school in the Chino Valley Unified School District in what is now the Adult School near the district office on Riverside Drive. He graduated from Chaffey College in 1978.

Dropping plans to go to law school, Fakhoury began his career with the Department of Corrections on a whim, as a challenge with several friends. He says aced his first test and decided he wanted to keep a life-long career in corrections. He rose through the ranks and became a chief deputy warden at CIM in 2005.

"Being able to share my experience and be able to do something and give back whether to CIM, or to the staff or to the community itself, that's really what I want," he said.

"If I just sit back and do nothing, I feel I would become useless. So I would like to give back and be able to share my experience and to mentor someone to take my place someday -- it's very satisfying for me."

Fakhoury said there is the possibility Poulos will return to CIM if he is not appointed permanent head of maximum security. But if not, Fakhoury is quick to assert his interest in an appointment for the permanent top spot there.

"It's really premature for me to determine whether I would still be an interim warden or the permanent warden as there needs to be an appointment by governor, and it goes through a confirmation and vetting process," Fakhoury said.

"It goes though the Office of the Inspector General and the Governor's Office. Right now, I am interested in the permanent position, when and if Mike Poulos chooses to go to another adventure within CDCR."

neil.nisperos@inlandnewspapers.com

(909) 483-9356