William W. Sondervan, 49, a retired lieutenant colonel in the Army Military Police, has been tapped as the new commissioner of the Maryland Division of Correction.

Sondervan, whose 22 years of military criminal justice experience included a stint as chief of police and correction, has been acting commissioner since December.

Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend called Sondervan an "aggressive administrator" whose goals include putting more inmates to work, ridding prisons of drugs and reducing recidivism.

Since Sondervan's appointment as an assistant commissioner in 1994, he has been "intimately involved in every major decision" at the division, said Stuart O. Simms, secretary of the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services.

As assistant commissioner, Sondervan's responsibilities included prison security, hostage negotiation and executions.

The Division of Correction oversees 22,500 inmates in 26 prisons and prerelease facilities.

A warden also has been chosen to head Western Correctional Institution near Cumberland. Frank C. Sizer, 55, fills a post that has been vacant since October 1997. His past jobs include warden and witness protection manager with the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

Pub Date: 4/12/99