This just in from the Missoulian State Bureau’s Mike Dennison:
Montana native and Las Vegas police officer Leroy Kirkegard was named Tuesday as the new warden at Montana State Prison, becoming the first new warden at the prison in 16 years.
KKirkegard, 52, will succeed former Warden Mike Mahoney, who retired in August and took a job with the private prison at Shelby.
“I can’t be more excited,” said Kirkegard, who grew up on a farm near Circle in eastern Montana and has family members living in the state. “The whole 30 years I’ve been gone, I have always gone home for vacations. Montana is such a great state; once you step across the borders of Montana, you feel like you’re home.”
Kirkegard starts his new job Nov. 14.
Gwen Florio