Centre grad promoted at prison bureau
Staff writer
Chris Bina, a 1987 graduate of Centre High School, has been promoted the assistant surgeon general of the U.S. Bureau of Prisons.
Bina, who has worked at the bureau for more than 31 years, was selected in January as assistant director for its Health Services Division. He oversees 6,000 employees who provide health and safety services for prison staff and inmates.
“We have a wonderful team of health care providers throughout the country, who come from all occupations,” Bina said.
The bureau oversees 121 prisons and 159,000 prisoners. Ninety-five percent of inmates get out of prison.
Many prisoners come with health problems, Bina said. The goal is to release them in better health than when they came in.
“We want them not to be a drain on society, to be able to take care of themselves and become good neighbors,” he said.
Bina began with the Bureau of Prisons as a pharmacy intern in 1991. He rose through the ranks to become director of pharmacy programs in the central office in October 2000.
A licensed pharmacist with bachelor’s and doctor’s degrees, Bina is a commissioned officer in the bureau. He had held the rank of one-star rear admiral since 2012. He was promoted to a two-star rear admiral in 2016 and carries the title of assistant surgeon general.
He met his wife, a pharmacist with the Food and Drug Administration, while attending the University of Kansas. They have two daughters and live in Olney, Maryland, just north of the nation’s capital.
His parents are Dean and Pat Bina of rural Marion.