LEWISBURG — David J. Ebbert has been tapped to replace Jeff Thomas as warden at United States Penitentiary in Lewisburg.
A native of Austin, Pa., Ebbert, 50, has served as warden at USP at Canaan since 2012. He was at the helm in February 2013 when corrections officer Eric Williams, 34, was attacked and killed by an inmate.
No date has been set when Ebbert will take over at the Lewisburg federal prison, but he has been visiting the facility during the transition, spokesman Donna Davis said Friday.
Thomas had served as warden for two years before retiring following a 27-year career that began in Lewisburg.
Like Thomas, Ebbert also started out as a corrections officer at the Lewisburg facility.
He worked as an officer from 1988 to 1991 before taking a position as an employee services specialist.
In 1992, Ebbert moved on to the federal prison at Terre Haute, Indiana, where he served as an assistant employee services manager until 1995 when he took a similar position at the Allenwood prison complex in until 1999. From 1999 to 2002 he was the employee services manager at a U.S. medical center in Missouri.
He was promoted in 2012 to associate warden at the federal prison in Sandstone, Minnesota, and held the same job title at Terre Haute from 2005 to 2007.
Ebbert was hired as warden at Allenwood in 2007 where he remained until 2012 when he took over at USP Canaan.
Married with three children, Ebbert received a Bachelor of Arts degree in criminal justice from Mansfield University in 1986.