It perhaps wasn't the smoothest first day of work, but Mary Lou McDonough — the new director of the Prince George's County Department of Corrections — has shaken it off and is anxious to get started.

On Nov. 19, McDonough was sworn in to lead the department, becoming the first woman in the position in the county's history. She was appointed without a vote of support from the County Council, which said it could not reach a consensus on the three nominees, including McDonough, seeking appointment. In addition, the department and McDonough are named in a multimillion-dollar lawsuit filed after an inmate died in custody during her tenure as acting director, raising questions about safety in the jail and treatment by corrections officers.

But McDonough, 56, of Mitchellville — backed by County Executive Jack B. Johnson (D) — said she is confident she will succeed in her new role and has a strategy to boost the department's image.

"We've always had a pretty good record," she said. "I'd like to bring it back to its former glory."

McDonough, who is married and has three daughters in their 20s, has been the department's deputy director since 2005 and acting director since 2008. She has worked more than 30 years with the county government, in corrections, housing and community development, and family services departments.

She said she hopes to cut down the jail's recidivism rate, attract good corrections officers and improve the facility. McDonough said she has been instrumental in the construction beginning this spring on a new kitchen, and on the current construction of two buildings that will house a total of 192 inmates and are slated to open in 2011.

McDonough said Monday the jail has about 1,250 inmates, with a capacity of 1,332.

"The surroundings help to reduce incidents. When people are in a better place, they act better," she said. "The department is in better shape now than one year ago, and it will be in better shape in one year."

McDonough said the department will receive about $300,000 in federal stimulus funding that will pay for about 50 new cameras with recording capabilities. The lack of cameras that can record — instead of just being used for monitoring — was criticized when the inmate was found dead in his cell. The goal is for nearly all the jail's common areas to have cameras. The facility currently has 175 recording cameras.

"It helps with security issues, training for how an incident was handled, how it could be handled better," she said.

The planned improvements come on the heels of several years of high-profile problems at the jail.

McDonough took over the county correctional center in June 2008 after former director Alfred J. McMurray Sr. was fired by Johnson after security lapses at the center, which included handguns that went missing from a locked armory, inmates found with handcuff keys and a guard charged with smuggling cell phones to inmates.

About a month into McDonough's tenure, inmate Ronnie White, 19, was found dead in his cell June 29, 2008, a day after he was charged with homicide in the death of a county police officer. The state medical examiner listed the cause of White's death as a homicide by strangulation. Corrections guards have allegedly claimed the inmate committed suicide. County State's Attorney Glenn F. Ivey has declined to prosecute.

This June, McDonough was named in a $51.2 million wrongful death lawsuit filed by White's mother, Angela L. White.

McDonough said the White incident was "baptism by fire."

"It certainly put me in the limelight and the jail in the limelight," McDonough said. "We have to use it to learn from ... . It's always there — until the civil suit is settled, there will always be questions."

McDonough, a graduate of Parkdale High School in Riverdale, has a bachelor's degree in sociology and a master's degree in public policy from the University of Maryland, College Park. As corrections department director she manages a $69 million budget for fiscal 2010, as well as 646 employees and about 1,250 detainees housed in county facilities.

The department's fiscal 2010 budget is about $1 million less than the year prior, a decrease managed by county furloughs and the freezing of two vacancies.

"I like to organize and manage," she said, stressing that accountability of employees is one of her priorities. "I'm making sure people do their job — I'm holding people accountable according to our rules."

Johnson said he appointed McDonough because of her qualifications.

"She has been in our government now for [30] years. She is an extremely competent manager and she is a leader," he said. "I don't know why anyone had any reservations about her. I thought those were unfair."

Vernon Herron, the county chief administrative officer for public safety and the county's director of homeland security and McDonough's supervisor, said McDonough will hold people accountable.

"We've had people in that position before and other positions in Prince George's government who look the part but don't perform," he said. "She's an excellent person for the job — she's set the bar."

E-mail Liz Skalski at eskalski@gazette.net.