Colorado names interim prisons chief

Colorado has tapped a retired prisons chief from Kansas to lead the Department of Corrections on an interim basis after last month’s killing of prisons chief Tom Clements.

Roger Werholtz was announced as the interim corrections chief Tuesday. He will work through July as Colorado searches for a replacement to Clements, who was shot in his home last month.

The suspect in Clements’ slaying, paroled white supremacist Evan Ebel, was killed in a shootout with police in Texas.

In a statement, Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper said Werholtz would lead efforts to evaluate Colorado’s parole system, which failed to locate Ebel after he slipped an ankle monitor.

Werholtz retired as Secretary of Corrections in Kansas in 2010. He had earlier served as Deputy Secretary of Corrections since 1987.