CHARLESTON, W. Va.–Gov. Jim Justice said that he has accepted the resignation of state Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation Commissioner Betsy Jividen.
“We’re going to wish her the best. We’re going to accept her resignation effective August 5th. We’ll work diligently to fill that vacancy,” Justice said.
He appointed Jividen to the post in January 2018. Justice said Jividen has done a “wonderful job.”
“We just wish her the best as she moves on and we thank her for all of the great work she did,” Justice said.
No reasons were given for the resignation.
Before her 2018 appointment, Jividen worked as a federal prosecutor for more than 40 years. She was the first woman to be sworn in as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Northern District of West Virginia back in 1980. She served as Civil Chief, Senior Litigation Counsel and two terms as acting and interim U.S. Attorney.
“It has been my greatest professional honor to serve with the men and women of corrections, who truly perform one of the most honorable forms of public service, often under conditions that the average person cannot even begin to comprehend,” Jividen said in her resignation letter to the Governor. “I look forward to finding ways to continue working on their behalf, as well as for those individuals that make up our incarcerated and reentering populations.”
Jividen sent a separate letter to her staff saying she was given them the news of her resignation with a heavy heart.
Justice credited Jividen Tuesday for leading advancements in the state DOC and leading the 15 prisons, work-release centers and juvenile facilities and more 2,000 employees through the COVID-19 pandemic.