Editor’s Note: This copyrighted story is reprinted with the permission of The Marin Independent Journal 
A veteran of the state corrections system has been tapped to take over at San Quentin State Prison, where he started his career 30 years ago.
“It is an honor for me,” he said. This is my last job that I anticipate having so I like the fact that I’m going to complete my career at the place where I started.”
Michael Martel takes over (as acting warden) amid state budget problems and court battles over California’s lethal injection procedures and a plan for a $356 million Death Row complex at San Quentin.
He said he would focus his attention on the safety of inmates and staff and on complying with court orders, leaving larger policy questions to others. “Those are decisions that the Legislature and the public and the governor’s office make,” he said . “When instructions are given, I will try to make sure that we comply in an efficient and fiscally sound manner.”
The prison has struggled with heavy turnover in the warden’s job in recent years, with three chiefs from 1984 to 2004– but seven in the years since.
Martel’s predecessor, Vincent Cullen, was hired in January 2010 but replaced when he failed to be confirmed in an evaluation after a year as acting warden. California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation spokesman Oscar Hidalgo said Cullen would be reassigned to another job within the department.
“Mr. Cullen was effective at maintaining the sound operation of San Quentin during his time as acting warden, but it was decided that an alternate placement was more appropriate at this time,” Hidalgo wrote in an e-mail.
Martel, who became eligible for full pension benefits at age 50, said he does not anticipate retiring anytime soon. He is earning $122,000 a year. “Right now I have all the support of my family,” he said. “I have very good health. I still have a lot of drive. I still have a lot of ambition and goals.”
A native of Niagara Falls, N.Y., Martel worked in his family’s restaurant and attended college on and off before moving west and finding a job as a San Quentin corrections officer in 1981. He left the prison in 1986 and served in a number of jobs elsewhere in the corrections department, most recently as warden at Mule Creek State Prison in Ione, southeast of Sacramento.
 
“What I lack in education, I have a tremendous amount of experience and common sense,” he said.
Martel is stepping into a “very tough job” and will face a number of challenges such as overcrowding and staffing shortages, said Jeanne Woodford, who was warden from 1999 to 2004 and head of the corrections department from 2004 to 2006.
 
“The warden is expected to really be addressing any issue,” she said.
 
“My only advice would be to continue to work with the wonderful community in the Bay Area,” she said, referring to the nonprofit groups that work with the prison population.