Michael Francke - Education and Career

Education and Career

Francke, a native of Kansas City, Missouri, attended New Mexico Highlands University on a football scholarship, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in a combined major of political science, economics, German, and French. He then attended the University of Virginia Law School on a scholastic scholarship, graduating with a law degree in 1971, and was subsequently admitted to the Virginia bar. For the next three years he served as a judge advocate general in the United States Navy, at Long Beach Naval Station; during this time, he also received Navy SEAL self-defense training.

In 1975, he was admitted to the bar in New Mexico, and worked as an assistant attorney general and counsel to the state Department of Corrections. He served in this capacity until 1980, when he became a judge for the First District Court in Santa Fe. He served as a judge for three years, and in 1983 became the director of the New Mexico Department of Corrections. While serving in this capacity, he was credited with reforming New Mexico's prison system which had been devastated by the 1980 riots at the State Penitentiary in Santa Fe.

In May 1987, Oregon governor Neil Goldschmidt hired Francke to fill the corresponding position in Oregon. He was hired with a remit to address problems in the state's Department of Corrections (ODOC). During his tenure, he had been criticized by some in the Oregon Legislature for cost overruns and delays in a state prison construction program.