The future of Larch Corrections Center remains an open question 11 days after Gov. Chris Gregoire announced that the minimum-security prison near Hockinson likely will close as a result of across-the-board budget cuts this fall. Anxious Larch employees thought they had won a temporary reprieve Friday, when Dan Pacholke, acting director of prisons for the Department of Corrections, sought to quell their fears of an immediate closure. Report from The Columbian.

“There has been speculation that Larch is closing on Oct. 1,” Pacholke wrote in his weekly message to prison staff members. “Today there simply is no such plan.”

The prison caseload “continues to trend above the forecast and we really aren’t in a position to close anything more than what we are already prepared to do,” he wrote.

Pacholke said in an interview that Larch corrections employees shouldn’t read too much into his message.

“The context around that is that there are no plans to close Larch today,” he said. “It is not part of any closure plan, any document that exists. Really what I wanted to do was respond to a rumor that Larch will close Oct. 1, and that is not the case.”

He added, “What I do is read the newspaper. We continue to go through budget exercises with state government. I don’t know what tomorrow holds.”

Larch was downsized from 480 beds to 240 this year as part of a plan to consolidate prison beds statewide. In an agreement brokered by the House of Representatives, the Corrections Department agreed to also shrink the medium-security prison on McNeil Island near Tacoma from 1,200 to 256 inmates by next March. Pacholke said the McNeil Island prison population is on schedule to drop to 512 inmates by Sept. 15.

Cutting deeper?
Corrections chief Eldon Vail told The Columbian the closure of Larch would save about $2.5 million in the first six months of 2011, which would amount to roughly 10 percent of the $25 million the department might have to whack from its budget to deal with another looming state deficit.

Corrections spokesman Chad Lewis said Monday it’s possible the department could be required to cut deeper, slashing as much as $50 million from its $1.8 billion operating budget between now and June 30, 2011.

Some Larch employees and former employees believe far more savings could be realized by closing the McNeil Island prison, which is one of the state’s most expensive prisons to operate because everything and everyone must be transported by ferry.

“Why is this fair?” asked Pat Edwards, a former classification counselor at Larch who was laid off in April. “How much is the burden being shared? Clark County is bearing the burden for the entire state of Washington and we have the highest unemployment rate in the state.”

“Personally, the suspense of the closure over the last nine months has created a lot of anxiety and uncertainty,” said Vince Robinson, a counselor at Larch for the past seven years. “I wonder where or when to enroll my kids in school, whether to sign new contracts or to not buy anything larger than the trunk of my car.”

Legislators from Southwest Washington came together to save Larch during the 2010 legislative session. But as Gregoire searches for ways to cut 4 to 7 percent from state agencies by mid-2011, nothing is off-limits.

The potential cuts come as the prison system is experiencing a higher caseload than forecast when the budget was adopted. “If this trend continues it gets increasingly difficult to cut beds,” Pacholke said.

Could empty Larch beds actually be needed to meet the demand?

“Anything is possible,” he said.

jchev Economic Issues, Prison Closures, Washington

State officials say it will be a while before the Swannanoa Valley Youth Development Center sees a new facility. “We thought about building a new facility, and then the economy went south, and we lost all our funding,” William Lassiter, spokesperson for the N.C. Department of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, said. Reported in the Black Mountain News.

The center still needs to be either replaced or upgraded to bring it up to modern standards, but Lassiter doesn’t see that happening “for at least two or three years.” The most recent state budget has the facility remaining in its current home for this fiscal year, which ends June 30, 2011.

When a move or upgrade does finally happen, Lassiter said the department would prefer to keep the site in Buncombe County. The department needs a facility in Western North Carolina to keep inmates close to their families, and the county is seen as the hub of the region, he said.

It’s also possible a new facility could be in the Swannanoa Valley.

“It might be right there on campus, or it might be a couple miles down the road,” he said.

Either way, he said, the department will work with current employees to find them employment at a new youth center or elsewhere.

Some employees of the youth center could potentially move to the Swannanoa Correctional Center for Women, which opened at the youth center campus in July 2008. When construction finishes in September, the women’s prison will house 356 inmates.

That’s a substantial increase from the 90 inmates housed at the old women’s prison off North Fork Road.

The old women’s prison was converted into the Black Mountain Women’s Susbtance Abuse Treatment Center, which opened in April this year and celebrated a grand opening last month.

In an interview at the grand opening, Jennie Patterson, the chief deputy secretary of North Carolina’s Department of Corrections said workers at the Swannanoa Valley Youth Development Center would be given priority employment rights for openings at the Swannanoa Correctional Center for Women.

State laws require state employees be given priority for open state employment positions, and also requires departments to help employees when a branch or facility is closed, she said.

“I really think there’s no reason to be worried about jobs,” Patterson said.

jchev Community Corrections, Economic Issues, Juvenile Justice, North Carolina

The cost of keeping illegal immigrants in prison and providing them with medical care exceeded $250 million last year in Texas, according to state health and corrections officials. The testimony before the House State Affairs Committee on Wednesday came as lawmakers faced a projected state budget shortfall of up to $18 billion. News from the Bloomberg Business Week.

“We want to focus on what the real costs are for state services,” said Rep. Burt Solomons, R-Carrollton, the committee chairman. “There’s really not a lot of wholly accurate data.”

Jerry McGinty, the Texas Department of Corrections’ chief financial officer, said state prisons held 11,766 offenders who are foreign citizens in July. He said it costs the state about $171 million per year to hold them, although the federal government reimburses about 10 percent of that total.

Rick Allgeyer, director of research for the Health and Human Services Commission, said illegal immigrant health care – mostly emergency hospital care – cost the state nearly $100 million last year.

Rep. Rene Oliveira, D-Brownsville, said an Arizona-type law allowing police to question anyone they stop about their citizenship status could fill every county jail in Texas. “It would bust all our counties,” said Oliveira.

Rep. Pete Gallego, D-Alpine, told fellow committee members that when making policy, “you always have to be aware of unintended consequences.”

Gallego said there could be significant effects if law enforcement and other public agencies were asked to reallocate already-sparse resources to check citizenship of people in Texas.

jchev Economic Issues, Illegal Aliens, Inmate Health Care, Texas

Officials in Franklin County say the state has yet to pay some of its increased costs because of a dramatic expansion of the Coyote Ridge Corrections Center in Connell. Adding more than a 1,000 inmates to the state facility has driven up the county’s costs for its court system, among other things. Reported in the Seattle PI.

Coyote Ridge started as a 600-bed minimum security prison but now has nearly 2,000 inmates. By the end of the year, it’s expected to reach its capacity of more than 2,600 inmates.

Franklin County Prosecutor Steve Lowe compared it to adding another city, and said it’s important for the state, not just county taxpayers, to share in costs.

“The reality is Franklin County has gotten nothing,” Lowe said.

Despite the state budget deficit, Franklin County will ask the Legislature in the next session for impact fees, county commissioner Bob Koch said.

A joint study by the county and Connell in 2008 estimated the county’s one-time costs at $2.5 million, including staff and equipment for departments dealing with criminal justice, Koch said. There are also extra costs to local schools and hospitals.

But no money made it through the Legislature, officials said.

Department of Corrections spokeswoman Rowlanda Cawthon said only the Legislature has the power to appropriate such money.

County officials don’t yet have a firm estimate of additional costs from the prison expansion. But they include an increase in court filings and paperwork. Prisoners have filed lawsuits against the state and prison employees, and those must be handled in Franklin County courts.

Lowe said there has also been an increase in criminal cases from the prison, which are investigated by Connell police. When Coyote Ridge was a minimum-security prison, his office received one to three prison-related criminal cases a year, usually escape or drug cases.

Lowe said his office has 10 cases on hold from Coyote Ridge, most of which are assaults.

County Clerk Michael Killian said letters from inmates come into his office daily, and his staff has to respond to inquiries for legal help and forms. Killian estimated the workload related to inmates amounts to a full day for a clerk every week.

jchev Economic Issues, Jail and Prison Construction, WA Franklin County

Inmates are on the move in Tulsa after the Oklahoma Department of Corrections cancels its contract with a correctional facility. The DOC is now relocating dozens of offenders in the Prisoner Public Work program and leaving one building almost empty in the process. Maximum capacity at Riverside Intermediate Sanction Facility is 380. Right now the real concern is minimum capacity. News and additional photos from The News on 6.

It’s only going to get quieter for administrator Donnie Coffman and his staff at the facility on Charles Page Boulevard in Tulsa.

Over the last two months, Riverside, which is run by Avalon Correctional Services, has lost almost all the inmates in the Prisoner Public Work program.

Under the program, state inmates come in and get assigned to a work crew that picks up trash, digs ditches and mows lawns around the city. Eventually those inmates move on to a halfway house and then get released back into society.

“The way that it’s set up for re-entry, I thought it was an important step in transitioning them from behind a fence to a halfway house,” said Donnie Coffman, Avalon Regional Administrator. “They do good work. It’s a good management of our tax dollars.”

And money is exactly what led to the DOC cutting the Riverside contract short.

The facility and the Muskogee Community Corrections Center were both affected by the DOC cutbacks. The two contracts saved the department $2 million.

“We’re going to have to make up $40 million in budget shortfall this year, so we’re looking at every operation we have,” said Jerry Massie, Oklahoma Department of Corrections.

The Prisoner Public Work program was the only program that didn’t make money for the DOC. The department had to shut something out.

“We don’t have the luxury now to have a function that’s not generating some income for us,” said Massie.

The few offenders left will soon be transported to other facilities, like work centers or halfway houses. The DOC says their progress in the system won’t be affected.

Avalon President Brian Costello says he has two options moving forward with the Riverside facility. Either try to renegotiate a contract with the Department of Corrections or seek new contracts to fill up the building, perhaps with federal inmates.

jchev Economic Issues, Inmate Programs, Oklahoma

State government has promised to chip in $26 million for a new jail in Calaveras County and $80 million for a jail expansion in San Joaquin County. So what could go wrong?

Well, for one thing, state budget cuts to the prison system.

The state plans to come up with money for projects authorized under AB900, a law passed in 2008, by selling lease revenue bonds. Unlike traditional lease revenue bonds where the property financed is a money maker, the “lease” in this case involves a rent payment of tax dollars from one state agency to another.

The State Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation is supposed to pay rent to the State Public Works Board for use of the jail facilities. If it doesn’t, the Public Works Board is obligated to find someone else to pay the rent. In the event of a state default on particular bonds, the county that built the jail would be given the first opportunity to pay the rent. If the county government couldn’t or wouldn’t pay it, then it would face the prospect of having a building in the middle of its law enforcement complex leased to some other entity, possibly a private company in the prison business.

The lease-revenue arrangement, and its potential pitfalls, have come as news to some county officials.

“I thought these were general obligation bonds of the state,” Calaveras County Supervisor Tom Tryon said during a July 27 meeting of the Board of Supervisors. “If they come to foreclose on the jail, what happens to our $32 million?” Tryon asked, referring to the money from a local bond measure county voters approved in 2007.

The local money in Calaveras is going to an 80-bed jail dormitory and to a Sheriff’s Department administrative building next to the planned main 160-bed jail building. A specially carved parcel that includes only the main 160-bed jail serves as security for the lease-revenue bonds. So the county would keep the administration building and the dormitory even in the event of a default.

Calaveras County Counsel Jim Jones said county officials were concerned enough about the possibility of a state default jeopardizing the main jail that county officials tried to negotiate changes in the language of the jail funding contract with the state.

He said state officials were unwilling to make the changes because they believe the lease-revenue arrangement is necessary to attract investors willing to buy the bonds.

There are significant differences between general obligation bonds and lease-revenue bonds. General obligation bonds in California must get a two-thirds approval from voters. They cost the least in interest because they are backed by the full faith of the state government.

Lease-revenue bonds were traditionally used to finance things such as electric utility plants, water treatment plants or toll bridges that would generate the money needed to pay the debt. By using lease-revenue financing, state officials avoid the need to ask voter approval but will have to pay higher interest rates, and therefore more tax dollars, for the state’s $7.4 billion in borrowing for AB900. That program is building both prison and jail capacity around the state.

Another danger to the jail financing is that California’s battered credit rating and budget deadlock could make it difficult to sell AB900 bonds.

Yet state officials remain confident that they will be able to both sell the bonds and pay them off.

“You can’t say with any certainty there is no risk,” said Robert Takeshita, deputy director of the California Corrections Standards Authority. “But then you have to look at the history. There has never been a default in the state of California.”

And county officials are for the most part resigned to the fact that they need the state funding if they are to build a bigger jail.

“We do have concerns, and we hope it doesn’t happen,” San Joaquin County Director of Facilities Management Gabe Karam said of the risk the state could default on the bonds. “But there is too much at stake here. It is $80 million from the state to build the jail here. How can you say no to that?”

Al Segalla, president of the Calaveras County Taxpayers Association, said that if the general public hasn’t objected so far to the funding mechanism, its high costs, and its risks, that’s because few people understand it.

“This multilayered leasing is really confusing to the public and to me. It is almost like a fraud or a scheme to avoid public accountability,” Segalla said.

Calaveras County has finished its design for the jail and is scheduled to begin construction late this year, finishing the job by December 2012.

San Joaquin County is going slower, Karam said, and doesn’t anticipate starting construction on its expansion until mid-2012. By then, he said, local officials may know more about whether investors are willing to buy AB900 bonds and whether California’s elected leaders can stabilize state finances.

“We have two years to know more about the state of the economy in California,” Karam said.

jchev Budgets, California, Jail and Prison Construction

In a cost-cutting move, the Oklahoma Department of Corrections is eliminating some of its community-level beds in Tulsa. The agency has canceled a contract with Avalon Correctional Services for beds to house offenders put on public works crews in Tulsa, department Director Justin Jones said. The offenders are being moved to other facilities. Story reported in Tulsa World.

Avalon President Brian Costello said the contract involves about 75 offenders. With those beds empty, the company will have trouble keeping its building open, he said.

“We are exploring some options to try to find a different population to go in there. It doesn’t look promising,” Costello said.

Jones said the state inmates should be out of Avalon’s building at 1727 Charles Page Blvd. by about Sept. 1. The department also closed the Muskogee Community Corrections Center effective Aug. 1, Jones said. It had about 87 beds. Those offenders were moved to centers in Mangum and Healdton and to vacant halfway houses.

“What we are doing now is looking at where we can add beds at existing facilities so we might have the possibility of consolidation,” Jones said.

Community level is considered to be less than minimum security. The closures in Tulsa and Muskogee are among a number of cost-cutting measures by the department, Jones said, adding that they will save about $2 million. More closures could be on the horizon, he said. Other cost-cutting measures include employee furloughs, voluntary buyouts and program cuts.

The Department of Corrections’ budget for fiscal year 2011 is $462 million, down from $503 million in 2010. The agency is seeking a supplemental appropriation of up to $40 million, Jones said. At a time when the department has less money available, the state’s inmate population is growing.

The department had a net offender growth of 721 inmates in the last fiscal year, Jones said. The agency is furloughing employees one day a month from July through February.

“DOC employees are furloughing to pay for net offender growth and unfunded mandates,” Jones said.

“So, if we don’t get a supplemental in February, the message to our employees would be that they are expected to take pay cuts to pay for net offender growth.”

The Oklahoma Public Employees Association is calling on legislative leaders to come to an agreement about the supplemental funding.

“This would allow Director Jones to stop the furloughs, which are crushing the morale of our public safety employees,” said Sterling Zearley, the OPEA’s executive director.

jchev Community Corrections, Economic Issues, Oklahoma

Gov. Pat Quinn is promising to cut almost $42 million from the Department of Corrections, without layoffs. The governor says it can be done by reducing overtime, which ballooned from $20 million in 2008 to $68 million in 2009. “I believe that we’ll be able, through efficient deployment of personnel, to reduce the overtime costs in the agency,” he said. “It won’t be easy, but it’ll be a basic mission.” News from the Illinois Radio Network.

AFSCME, the union that represents prison guards, says it would be cheaper if the state hired more guards.

State Sen. Bill Brady (R-Bloomington), the Republican candidate for governor, says the Department of Corrections has too many politically connected middle managers, and too few front-line workers.

The overall Corrections budget is $1.1 billion.

Meanwhile, threatened budget cuts of $32 million at the state police, which would have resulted in the layoff of 460 troopers and the closing of five district headquarters, have been prevented. The governor has signed S.B. 3695, which adds fees of $1 to $15 to any conviction. That will raise $23 million for the state police.

jchev Budgets, Illinois

The Illinois Department of Corrections and University of Illinois at Chicago are partnering on a new Telemedicine Pilot Program designed to bring elaborate and sophisticated healthcare to inmates with HIV and Hepatitis C. This interagency pilot program successfully rolled out at three sites: Danville, Lincoln and Robinson Correctional Centers. News from the Illinois DOC.

Three more prisons in the system will be piloting this program and the hope is to add three prisons each month until all of the facilities are using this technology to treat inmates with HIV and Hepatitis C. According to IDOC Medical Director Dr. Louis Shicker, “The program allows for specialty care of complex medical issues at remote locations. Each facility will have equipment installed and UIC will have a designated area where the physician can do their assessments.” Each location has a screen along with medical instruments that are connected to the telemedicine unit at UIC. This allows the physician to listen to the heart and lungs and visually see any skin abnormalities from the UIC location. A medical staff member from the prison is with the inmate at all times and can be directed in the exam by the specialist at UIC. Pharmaceuticals and lab work are provided by UIC. ”I hope this program will provide standardized, quality care to our population, foster closer ties between UIC and IDOC and possibly even expand into other areas where telemedicine can be utilized for our population,” said Dr. Shicker.

University of Illinois at Chicago, Department of Medicine, Section of Infectious Diseases, Immunology, & International Medicine, Assistant Professor Dr. Jeremy D. Young says, “The launch of this program was hugely successful. The equipment worked well, the clinic flow was smooth, and the patients were very receptive. With this program, we hope to provide evidence-based, up-to-date subspecialty care for offenders with HIV and Hepatitis C infections. We at UIC are very excited about the program as it will not only provide medical care, but intensive case management services for offenders as they transition from the prison setting out into the community. Our plan is to make this an academic program as it will help provide education and training to IDOC staff and UIC students, residents, and post-graduate infectious diseases fellows.”

This type of innovative program could save IDOC transportation costs and remove the risks associated with moving inmates outside of the prison. IDOC pilot sites next month include: Logan, Moline, and Western Correctional Centers.

jchev Economic Issues, Illinois, Inmate Health Care

Two rows of black and white Holstein cows waited Monday morning for prison inmates to connect their udders to milking machines, then stood patiently as white liquid began flowing into collection containers. The scene takes place twice a day at the Wateree Correctional Institution, as prisoners milk about 200 cows. News, with photo gallery, in The State.

But at this Sumter County facility, they’re accomplishing more than milk production. The dairy operation has resulted in thousands in savings into thousands for the S.C. Department of Corrections, which like most state agencies has been struggling with budget deficits in a tough economic climate.

The cows produce more than 500,000 gallons of milk per year, served daily to the S.C. Department of Corrections’ 24,000 inmates statewide. The milk also supplies cafeterias at the S.C. Department of Juvenile Justice, with a little sold on the market in South Carolina.

But next year, the dairy will expand into a new $7 million facility that can milk 1,000 cows a day, said Bert Dew, branch chief for agriculture at the Corrections Department. The expansion will allow production of more than 2.3 million gallons per year, with the larger dairy also capable of packaging single-serve milk and juices and of producing potable water for state emergencies. The excess milk from the expanded dairy will be sold on the open market in South Carolina, Dew said.

Dairy farmers do not expect the prison’s milk sales to affect their operations, because the state’s dairies do not produce enough to satisfy the demand, said Jamie Cantrell, a field representative with the Dairy Farmers of America cooperative, which markets milk for farmers.

In fact, the Corrections Department milk is expected to save the state’s dairy producers about $200,000 per year in import costs. About 80 dairy farms operate statewide.

“Any time local milk is produced, it’s a load that doesn’t have to be hauled in from Texas or New York state,” Cantrell said.

Wateree is one of three farms in the state’s prison system. Those farms also produce eggs, vegetables, grits and corn meal that are used to feed inmates, saving nearly $600,000 a year. The Corrections Department’s daily food cost per inmate — $1.51 — is the lowest among prison systems nationwide, said Josh Gelinas, the department spokesman.

And the farms raise products such as beef cattle that are sold for cash. That money is returned to the farms so they can pay for themselves, Dew said.

At Wateree, 200 of the prison’s 700 inmates work on the farm under the supervision of professional agriculture specialists such as Dew. The inmates’ work helps hold down expenses, since they do not earn salaries. And the hard work keeps behavioral problems to a minimum, he said.

“If you work them and they work hard all day, you don’t have any trouble out of them,” he said. “They come in and go to bed.”

Besides the dairy, Wateree also produces grits, corn meal, sweet potatoes, lumber and cattle, and chicken feed.

The Corrections Department has projected that the expanded dairy will pay for itself within 10 years, said Jon Ozmint, Corrections Department director. The first 500 cows are expected to move into a new barn in January.

But Ozmint said he wouldn’t be surprised if the dairy generated enough money to recoup the expense at a faster rate, especially if the price of milk holds steady.

Once Corrections pays off its construction costs, it will use the money to pay for other expenses such as offsetting budget deficits. This year, Corrections expects to run a $10 million deficit, Ozmint said. If the dairy already was profitable, it would generate more than $1 million that could help with the shortfall.

The Corrections Department constantly evaluates the agriculture market to see which crops and livestock are profitable. A few years ago, the department dropped hog farming because it did not make money, Ozmint said. But it added a large egg production facility.

“That’s why we focus on eggs and milk, because they’ve always been winners for us,” he said.

The new dairy is being built mostly by prison labor. Inmates are grading the foundation and building two barns. A private contractor has been hired to build the milking parlor, said John Harmon, chief of facilities management for the Corrections Department.

On Monday, inmates drove bulldozers and backhoes across the site and pounded a steel frame into place.

Duane, whose full name was not released because of Corrections Department policy, said he owned a construction business before he was incarcerated. He sees the job as a chance to keep his skills sharp, and he takes pride in watching the barn rise from the ground.

“Even though I’m out here, this reflects my work,” said Duane, who is serving 12 years for felony DUI. “It helps time go by.”

jchev Economic Issues, South Carolina, Work Programs

Law enforcement agencies across the region are yet to reap the benefits of an amendment approved last session to reduce the amount of money counties have to pay for the medical treatment of state inmates and pre-trial detainees. Smith County Sheriff Charlie Crumpton said it’s “hard-hitting” when small sheriff’s departments in rural areas like Smith County have to spend thousands to care for state inmates. News from the Laurel Leader Call.

“Any time there is a county inmate, the county is solely responsible for caring for the inmate,” said Crumpton. “When we pick someone up for the state for something like violating probation or some other crime, in addition to providing medical care when needed, we have to provide food and clothing.

“The state doesn’t reimburse us until after that person is revoked,” he added. “That could take some time, and in the meantime, we have to pay everything from our budget.”

The new law, which took effect after Gov. Haley Barbour’s signature on April 7th, seeks to limit counties’ responsibility when bills exceed standard Medicaid rates or rates paid by the Mississippi Department of Corrections. Rates may vary depending on what kind of procedure or prescription an inmate needs.

Before the change, counties had to pay medical and drug costs for all state inmates. The state then reimbursed the counties at a fraction of the cost. Counties also were responsible for the full cost of care for pretrial detainees — those arrested and waiting to go to court.

“It’s tough because you are always questioned about why the jail budget is over,” said Crumpton. “It’s something you can’t help when the state houses inmates at your facility.

“The way the law is written, while they are here, they are ours to protect and make sure they are properly treated while they are in our custody.”

While Crumpton would only say Smith County spends a substantial amount of money for the care of inmates, Perry County Sheriff Jimmy Dale Smith said his agency spent close to $60,000 last year.

“We budget so much every year,” said Smith. “We have to carry inmates to the doctor if they complain about being sick.

“If we go to the emergency room or if they have to see a specialist, it all comes out of our budget. You’ve got to provide for them. I don’t know of any other way around it.”

Last year, Perry County had an in-house company providing medical care to its inmates. However, because of budget constraints, the county was forced to end the service.

“These medical costs are hitting us hard,” Smith said.

It’s different for Jones County officials. Jones County Administrator Charles Miller said the cost of the medical care of state inmates is not an issue.

“If we have medical concerns, we have a plus here,” he added. “We own the hospital (South Central Regional Medical Center) and we can work out something with them.”

Shaunita Weathersby, public information director for the Jones County Sheriffs Department, said Sheriff Alex Hodge doesn’t make it a habit of housing state inmates. “We barely have enough space for those here in the county,” she said.

jchev Economic Issues, Inmate Health Care, Mississippi

The nation’s unemployment crisis is now reaching far inside prison walls. Since 2008, thousands of inmates have lost their jobs as federal authorities shutter and scale back operations at prison recycling, furniture, cable and electronics assembly factories to try to make up $65 million in losses. Story in the USA Today.

The job cuts, prison officials say, mean a dramatic reduction in job training for inmates preparing for release, lost wages for prisoners to pay down child support and other court-ordered fines, and more tension in already overcrowded institutions.

“Anytime we have a loss of inmate jobs … it becomes more challenging to keep inmates constructively occupied,” federal Bureau of Prisons spokeswoman Traci Billingsley says. Bureau records show the job cuts during the past two years coincide with slight increases in serious inmate assaults on staff and other prisoners.

Slightly more than 7,000 federal prisoners have been cut from the work rolls in the past two years, and up to 800 more are expected to be dropped in the next several months, according to Federal Prison Industries records.

The latest cut, announced last week, will closenine factories scattered from Pennsylvania to California and includes reductions in staff at 11 others, Federal Prison Industries spokeswoman Julie Rozier says.

She says the cuts represent some of the largest reductions in the 75-year history of the federal prison workforce. “We’re feeling the same pressures that are present in the overall economy,” she says. This year, 16,115 of the system’s 211,146 inmates are working in the factory jobs, down from 23,152 in 2008.

Federal Prison Industries is a government corporation established by Congress in 1934 that provides training for federal inmates. The industries generate about 80 products and services for sale to the federal government. In return, inmates are paid up to $1.15 per hour. Much of that goes to child support, fines, restitution and other court-ordered obligations.

Prison guards and others fear the cuts could spark inmate unrest in overcrowded institutions where jobs — however menial — have kept prisoners occupied.

Last year, serious assaults on staffers increased to 105, up from 100 in 2008, while inmate-on-inmate assaults totaled 524, up from 475 in 2008. “This is a big concern for us,” says Bryan Lowry, president of the federal prison employees association. Because of yearly prison population increases, he says, the federal system is running 37% over capacity.

Fewer jobs mean more downtime for inmates and more crowded recreation yards and housing units. In some places, Lowry says, there is only one prison officer for about 150 inmates: “It’s not a good situation.”

jchev Economic Issues, Federal Systems, Inmate Labor

Top state officials are being tight-lipped about budget cuts looming over the state’s prison system. Last week, Gov. Pat Quinn announced the Illinois Department of Corrections budget would be cut by $41.9 million as part of a $1.4 billion package of spending reductions throughout state government. News in The Pantagraph.

Although the cuts won’t result in layoffs or prison closures, it remains unclear how the reductions will be made as part of Quinn’s attempt to juggle the state’s massive financial problems.

In budget documents distributed last week, the administration said the cuts “will be addressed through better management of overtime costs and other operational efficiencies.”

Corrections’ spokeswoman Sharyn Elman did not provide details of what exactly that means.

In a written statement, Elman said, “The department is currently formulating its FY 2011 management plan with the Governor’s Office of Management and Budget.”

Overtime costs within the prison system have been steadily rising in recent years because of understaffing within the $1.1 billion agency.

In 2007, the department paid out nearly $20 million to prison guards in overtime costs. That figure jumped to an estimated $68 million last year. The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union estimates it might be cheaper to simply hire more employees.

Elman said the agency is reviewing a directive issued by Quinn last week that calls for a series of belt-tightening maneuvers designed to keep the state afloat.

For example, Quinn wants cutbacks in vehicle use, employee travel and printing.

But, in the case of overtime, Quinn says reductions should not apply to employees who are in labor unions. Most of the overtime costs in the prison system are tied to unionized guards having to work double shifts because of understaffing.

Although Quinn had wanted lawmakers to approve a tax hike and allow him to borrow money to pay down a huge backlog of unpaid bills, they did neither.

On Tuesday, Quinn told reporters in Chicago he doesn’t expect lawmakers to take up budget issues until after the Nov. 2 election, leaving him to juggle a $13 billion deficit on his own.

“The General Assembly doesn’t have a lot of fortitude when it comes to raising revenue or making cuts,” Quinn said. “The General Assembly doesn’t want to do anything very challenging. They don’t want to put their fingerprints on any cuts.”

jchev Budgets, Economic Issues, Illinois

For 12 years, South Carolina has tried to protect the public by keeping its most-dangerous sex offenders locked up behind concrete walls and razor wire long after their prison sentences have ended. But that sense of security comes at a steep price. Reported in the Post and Courier.

The state shells out about $7.4 million each year to treat those confined under the Sexually Violent Predator Act, which allows authorities to lock up some sex offenders indefinitely for the purpose of alternative care. That translates to about $63,000 per offender annually for each of the 119 predators in the program.

And that doesn’t include the legal costs associated with the commitment process or the money spent on food, utilities and space within a state prison, state officials said.

South Carolina is one of 20 states to enact laws under which sex offenders can be jailed for life in the name of public safety. These measures gained traction in the 1990s when growing public fears about sex offenders coincided with prosperous times in which state budgets were flush with cash.

But a recent report by the Associated Press found that the costs for this get-tough tactic have soared far beyond what people envisioned at the time. An AP analysis found that states with civil commitment programs collectively will spend $500 million this year alone to treat 5,200 offenders deemed too dangerous to return to the streets.

Those costs have put the squeeze on many governments struggling to cut expenditures in a crippling recession that has forced layoffs, furloughs and deep program cuts. Though South Carolina spends a good deal less than many other states on its predator program — New York spends $175,000 per inmate and California, $173,000 — the effort is still a drain on already strained coffers.

Still, there appears to be little support among lawmakers in South Carolina and other states to pull back on these programs and be seen as soft on rapists and child molesters, the AP found. While states such as Colorado have put their money into increased supervision of sex offenders in the community, officials here insist it’s just not worth the risk to let these predators out.

Sen. Mike Fair, a Greenville Republican who chairs the Senate Corrections and Penology Committee, said the predator program’s growth comes at a “crummy time” from a budget perspective, “but I think we will continue to do whatever is necessary to keep that program funded.”

“I think the public supports that as well,” he said.

The state Department of Mental Health, which runs the predator program, has seen its overall budget drop 33 percent between 2008 and the coming fiscal year, for which about $147 million has been set aside for the agency, according to department figures.

While programs and services throughout the agency have been cut or curtailed as a result, the predator unit cannot be touched because it is mandated by state law, said Mark Binkley, general counsel for the department.

“The program continues to be a growth area, and it doesn’t bear its share of cuts because it can’t be cut,” he said. “And that just magnifies the share of cuts on other programs.”

It is anyone’s guess where it will end, as more offenders are added to the unit and the population ages and requires more medical care. The number of predators in the unit has nearly doubled since 2005, as has the program’s budget. This has led to concerns about space constraints as well.

Most of these predators are housed in a unit deep within the maximum-security Broad River Correctional Institution in Columbia, in a prison wing originally designed for death-row inmates. A small group of “medically fragile” offenders are kept at Columbia Regional Care Center, a private detention health care facility.

“Space is our critical issue,” Binkley said. “Between the two facilities, we have found space for all of the residents and we are providing treatment for all of the residents, but it’s very crowded.”

The sexual predator act requires a court hearing, similar to a trial, to decide whether a person suffers from a mental or personality disorder that makes him likely to commit sexually violent acts. Once confined, offenders receive mental health treatment, drug and alcohol counseling and other services aimed at helping them control their behaviors.

Authorities have screened 5,498 offenders since the predator law was enacted in 1998. Of those, 192 offenders — around 3.5 percent — have been committed as sexually violent predators, said Mark Plowden, spokesman for state Attorney General Henry McMaster.

By comparison, there were 12,244 registered sex offenders walking the streets of South Carolina as of last week, according to the State Law Enforcement Division.

The AP analysis found wide disparities among states in the amount of time predators are confined for treatment. While California has returned nearly 200 offenders to its communities, no one in Minnesota’s program as ever gotten out, the AP found.

In South Carolina, the courts have released 65 people from the state’s program after treatment. Six others left in caskets after dying in the program.

Those who remain are considered too dangerous to live among us. Among those sent here: Kenneth R. Whitcraft of Berkeley County, who was involuntarily committed in 2002 following a 16-year prison term for forcing a 12-year-old boy to perform a sex act; Johnny Matthews, a janitor convicted of lewd acts on children at a North Charleston Head Start Center; and James Carl Miller, who sexually assaulted a 1-year-old in Lexington County in 1998.

Charleston County Associate Probate Judge Jack Guedalia headed a statewide committee that examined the predator program in 2005. He said the program is a necessary tool to protect the public and he hopes budget and space constraints don’t drive officials to set more predators loose in the community.

“The problem, of course, is that these people are such high-risk offenders,” he said. “What should be the cost of protecting all the kids and women out there from them? Where do you draw the line on something like that?”

jchev Economic Issues, Sex Offenders, South Carolina

It’s likely going to cost between $5 million and $25 million more to operate Goose Creek Correctional Center at Point MacKenzie than it will to house those prisoners outside, Corrections Commissioner Joe Schmidt told a group of Wasilla businessmen and women this week. Reported by the Anchorage Daily News.

Schmidt said he tries to stay away from discussions about the cost of running prisons and how many jobs it will add to the community. He doesn’t advocate for it as an economic development tool.

“I don’t think it’s my job to build more jails,” he said.

But he told the businessmen and women at the Tuesday Wasilla Chamber of Commerce meeting economic benefits would definitely come from having the prison in Alaska instead Outside. About 900 Alaska prisoners are currently jailed at a private prison in Hudson, Colo., owned by The GEO Group Inc.

“It’s going to cost the state more dollars, but we’re putting that back into this community,” Schmidt said.

In other words, the money pays Alaskans’ salaries and will be spent mostly in-state instead of paying wages and benefits for Colorado workers who aren’t likely to spend money in Alaska.

The Mat-Su Borough, in partnership with the state, is building a 1,536-bed medium-security prison on Alsop Road near Point MacKenzie. The prison is expected to be open in 2012.

Schmidt likened the setup to a city within a city. He said prisoners would “be expected to function just as we function,” meaning they will get up at a certain time, get breakfast at a cafeteria, go to work and return to their cell on schedule.

Chamber member Bert Hall asked Schmidt what he thinks the area around the prison might look like in five or more years.

Schmidt said prison workers will likely move near the prison despite its location about 30 miles south of Wasilla. He said the growth pattern might be similar to what happened around Cañon City, Colo., where homes, gas stations and stores followed the construction of a prison several years ago. Today the area is home to nine state and four federal prisons. It’s also a popular spot for rock climbing and white water rafting.

“It looks kind of like Wasilla,” Schmidt said.

He added that the utilities extended to reach the prison, including sewer and water service, are all oversized to accommodate business and residential development in the area.

“What we’re depending on is people kind of moving there,” he said, adding that when he oversaw the Point MacKenzie Correctional Farm prior to his appointment as Corrections Commissioner, his drive to work was about 10 miles shorter than it is to his office in Anchorage.

People in the audience had concerns about the new 1,536-bed facility going in south of the city.

Several asked questions about where prisoners would be released when their sentence ends and what kind of treatment programs the state offers.

Schmidt said prisoners are released in the community where they committed a crime. And alcohol and substance abuse treatment options for prisoners are expanding, he said.

The department is working on a program to serve 1,000 offenders this year, he said. If the program works, it might be expanded.

Schmidt backed off from endorsing the M/V Susitna, the Mat-Su Borough ferry, which the borough plans to begin using next year between Anchorage and Port MacKenzie, along with other routes.

“We have pretty carefully stayed out of the ferry debate,” Schmidt said. “I think it might be helpful to get staff out there.”

jchev Alaska, Economic Issues

Baldwin, Mich., (population 1,107), will soon have more prison beds than full-time residents. On the outskirts of town, one of the country’s largest private prison companies recently spent $60 million to expand a former juvenile prison into a 1,755-bed facility meant to house illegal immigrants before deportation. This is the same town where every summer locals gather for a carnival nicknamed Troutarama at which teenage girls vie for the crown of Ms. Lake County. Thirty-two percent of Baldwin’s families live below the poverty line, in a state with a 13.6 percent unemployment rate, compared to the national unemployment rate of 9.7 percent. Baldwin residents were counting on the private prison to create jobs, but this past March, the federal government pulled back its funding on the bid. This left the Geo Group, Inc., with an empty fortress in the middle of rural Michigan, 85 miles north of Grand Rapids. Story, with additional charts, from Newsweek.

A similar scenario is playing out across the country, in states such as California, Oklahoma, and Colorado, where entire private prisons now sit vacant. The Huerfano County Correctional Facility in Colorado and the Diamondback Correctional Facility in Oklahoma temporarily shut their doors this spring after the state of Arizona stopped sending prisoners out of state in an effort to save money. Cornell Companies, one of the three largest private prison operators in the U.S., expects two of its California prisons to remain empty through 2010, while 11,600 of Correction Corporation of America’s beds were unoccupied as of early May. The empty prisons are not a result of the number of inmates dropping. In fact, according to the Pew Public Safety Performance Project, the number of inmates rose in 2007 in Arizona, Ohio, Kentucky, Mississippi, and Florida. Instead, the empty beds are because state corrections agencies are crowding prisoners into more facilities as they do in California, or trying to change legislation to make sentencing less harsh for nonviolent criminals. The private prison industry’s reliable mix of housing state and federal inmates and illegal immigrants—a model that helped to fuel two decades of growth—is no longer a surefire way to get rich. “There are only so many places you can find people,” says Martin F. Horn, a former commissioner with the New York City Department of Correction and a lecturer at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

Though it’s certainly not disappearing and there are signs of a potential recovery for the sector, the private corrections business is under financial pressure to change its business plan, and as that happens, prison advocates worry that the industry and it’s bottom-line approach will come to dominate other areas of the justice system. Rather than worrying about upping the number of inmates, private prison companies are tapping into overseas markets and offering a wider range of services. GEO increased its revenue by $20.2 million in the last year by opening up prisons in Australia and the United Kingdom, while also eyeing contracts in South Africa and New Zealand. Cornell runs halfway houses and youth prisons and has noticed an uptick in the demand for drug treatment, housing, or job placement programs that help prisoners reenter society. “The challenge for reentry is funding,” says James Hyman, CEO and president of Cornell Companies. “If states can’t fund programs for their star college graduates, how do they fund programs for the prisoners?”

The private prison business experienced a similar watershed moment starting in the late 1990s and into early 2000. Shares of private prison companies then traded at roughly $2.50 (today, a share of GEO or CCA can easily sell for anywhere between $21 and $29), CCA also had thousands of empty beds, and the industry as a whole faced scandals over its treatment of prisoners. Twelve former prison guards in Texas had been indicted for sleeping with female prisoners, while a juvenile prison in Louisiana lost its contract after the U.S. Justice Department charged its guards with beating and throwing tear gas at the boys housed there. But two major events saved the industry. The Federal Bureau of Prisons saw an uptick in its number of prisoners (from 1987 to 2007, the national prison population tripled, from 585,084 to 1,596,127, according to a report by the Pew Center on the States), and then post-9/11, the Bush administration began to detain more immigrants and house them at a patchwork of private facilities across the United States.

The industry’s political connections have also likely helped ensure its longevity. The boards of directors for GEO and CCA read like a who’s who from past administrations and include both Republicans and Democrats. GEO board member Norman Carlson served as the director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons for 17 years. CCA’s board boasts Thurgood Marshall Jr., former cabinet secretary to President Bill Clinton and son of the late Supreme Court justice, as well as former U.S. senator Dennis DeConcini, Democrat of Arizona, who, during his 18-year tenure in Congress, served on the judiciary and appropriations committees. DeConcini says he has never lobbied on behalf of CCA, though he did, as a board member, attend a meeting with the director of the Arizona Department of Corrections and has publicly spoken in favor of the private prison business. During the 2008 election cycle, the political action committees of GEO, Cornell, and CCA, the three largest companies, were also generous, donating a total of roughly $679,000 to political groups and politicians from key states where they are courting new business, including Arizona, California, Louisiana, and Florida. “The private prisons companies know how to play the legislative game,” says Michael Jacobson, director of the Vera Institute of Justice.

As the economy recovers, both industry stock analysts and executives from Cornell and CCA say business is cylical and will rebound (GEO did not want to comment on the record). The private prison business now houses just under 9 percent of U.S. prisoners, compared to 6 percent in 2000, says Damon Hininger, president and CEO of CCA. Though it’s unclear where the new business will come from, Hininger points to several options. California’s budget crisis could actually prove to be a boon to business, since its prisons already are so overcrowded. The Federal Bureau of Prisons recently announced that it’s looking for a few thousand additional beds, and private prison executives argue that they operate 10 to 20 percent cheaper than state-run facilities, in part because they do not have to contend with the salaries and benefits of state correctional officers’ unions. (Corrections unions, for their part, say that makes the private prison guards less qualified and trained to deal with criminals and less prone to oversight.) “When I think about the future constraints on state governments, the fact that we can build quickly and cheaply only increases our value,” says Hyman of Cornell Companies.

The only part of the story left is the prisoners themselves. As David Fathi of the ACLU National Prison Project points out, “Prisoners cannot decide they don’t like where they live.” Because the private prison business does not follow the same rules as the rest of the market, in which consumers voice their preferences through what they buy, the question of how and where we house prisoners becomes merely an issue of economics. And for the private prison companies, the answer so far has been lucrative—as private prison executives are confident it will continue to be.

jchev Economic Issues, Private Prisons, United States

States should use innovative and evidence-based strategies to trim their prison populations, reduce the likelihood that a released person will return to prison and send fewer people to prison in the first place according to research released today by the Justice Policy Institute (JPI). With many states facing budget crises, important decisions are being made about where money will and will not be spent. JPI found that increasing opportunities for parole and improving parole release decisions, improving parole supervision and ensuring access to support and treatment services are cost-effective means of cutting extraneous spending while maintaining public safety. In FY2008, states spent $52 billion on corrections, money that could be spent on infrastructure, education, housing and job creation, the group says. News release, with link to full report, available from the Justice Policy Institute.

“Increasing the availability of parole and making better decisions about who is released is smart policy,” said Tracy Velázquez, executive director of JPI. “Options such as medical parole and geriatric release would yield tremendous monetary benefits, ensure people receive the services they need and would not be a detriment to public safety. States could in turn refocus savings toward crucial social services to help prevent people from entering prison in the first place.”

According to For Immediate Release: How to Safely Reduce Prison Populations and Support People Returning to Their Communities, released today by JPI, incarceration costs significantly less than parole supervision and some states are using innovative methods of supervision that are yielding positive results. As spending more time in prison does not equate to more public safety, releasing people early with appropriate supervision can be an effective way of reducing prison populations.

Velázquez added, “The notion that there is a public safety trade-off when shifting public dollars from prisons to positive, pro-social investments is false and has contributed to destructive policies that have given the United States the world’s largest incarceration rate and continue to disproportionately impact communities of color. Releasing people deemed ‘low risk’ to community supervision and providing adequate treatment and support services will improve outcomes and strengthen families and communities.”

The Justice Policy Institute (JPI) is a Washington, D.C.-based organization dedicated to reducing society’s use of incarceration and promoting just and effective social policies.

jchev Corrections Reform, Economic Issues, United States

The city of Oak Harbor may soon be in the business of importing prisoners from off island. Oak Harbor Police Chief Rick Wallace brought a contract before the City Council Tuesday that, if approved, would allow the Oak Harbor jail to begin receiving inmates from Anacortes on a daily basis. News from the Whidbey News Times.

The contract with the city of Anacortes proposes to house inmates at a cost of $65 per day. Despite some good-natured grumbling from City Council member Bob Severns, who joked that the price should be higher as Anacortes is raising the rate it charges Oak Harbor for its water, no council members had a problem with the contract.

The move is in response to a review City Prosecutor Bill Hawkins and Lt. Tim Sterkel of the Oak Harbor Police Department conducted earlier this year. It concluded that the jail could be run more efficiently if it was fuller, as the 12-bed facility is usually occupied with just six or seven prisoners.

“They are quite expensive to run,” Wallace said.

The Oak Harbor jail is split into two cell blocks, four beds in one cell for women and eight beds in three cells for men. It has an annual budget of about $600,000. That includes the wages and benefits of the seven jail officers that work in the facility.

It comes down to dollars and cents, Wallace said. Making a meal for six inmates costs about the same as it does to prepare a meal for 10. Plus, the $65-per-day prisoner fee will be a revenue generator for the city, although it will not be much.

“We’re not going to break even or pay for our jail expenses,” Wallace said.

He declined to speculate on how much the deal may generate per year due to the fluctuation of inmate numbers. However, if the jail were to receive an additional four inmates per day at $65 each, that would generate $94,900 annually.

According to Capt. John Small of the Anacortes Police Department, while they may transfer as many as four inmates on any given day, no inmates may be transferred on another. He also could not say what kind of revenue Oak Harbor could expect, but that it would much less than $94,900 a year.

“That’s almost as much as our entire jail budget,” he said.

Anacortes sends the majority of its inmates to the Skagit County jail in Mount Vernon. The facility has 183 beds but suffers constantly from overcrowding. The average inmate count is between 200 and 250 prisoners. Overcrowding is a problem in facilities across the state, he said.

Wallace is aware of the problem and is also considering inmate transfer contracts with San Juan County and the Washington Department of Corrections. He didn’t have details about those contacts, such as average prisoner intake, but he said the Oak Harbor facility could house up to 15 prisoners, despite having just 12 beds.

Although Wallace acknowledged that the additional inmates would “add stress” to both prisoners and guards, he said his staff has the proper training and he is confident they can handle the load.

The contract with Anacortes will not receive final approval until it is signed by Mayor Jim Slowik, who was on vacation Tuesday evening. Wallace said he hopes it will be signed before the end of the month and that the jail can begin receiving the additional prisoners by the beginning of July.

jchev Economic Issues, Washington

Oregon lawmakers are looking up and down for ways to mitigate across-the-board budget cuts expected soon. House Speaker Dave Hunt now says it’s “highly likely” the legislature will meet in special session at some point. Story from Oregon Public Broadcasting.

Right now Kulongoski is reviewing a list of nine percent cuts proposed by state agencies to deal with a half-billion dollar budget shortfall.

Those cuts would likely go into effect July 1st if the governor signs off on them.

Kulongoski can only make across-the-board cuts. And he’s already asked lawmakers to add money back to the Department of Corrections in order to keep three prisons open.

Democratic House Speaker Dave Hunt says a special session could also help restore money to fund state troopers, day care subsidies and K-12 education.

Dave Hunt: “In none of those cases will we be adding back to fill the entire hole. But I think there is a way to strategically add back portions in each of those that will ameliorate the worst of the cuts.”

Hunt says the extent to which lawmakers can do that hinges largely on whether Congress approves more bailout money for states.

Lawmakers rejected a call for an immediate special session. They said they wanted more time to mull their options.

jchev Budgets, Economic Issues, Oregon

Nine months after state lawmakers and the governor approved an operational budget for the state, the Michigan Department of Corrections has turned back to the legislature to ask for more money. Reported by the Michigan Messenger.

In May 27 letter from Robert Emerson, director of the state budget office, Emerson tells lawmakers that MDOC has overspent its budget by $46.25 million. The cost overruns were the result of delays in closing three prison facilities, unexpected increases in worker’s compensation claims and payments, shortfalls in parole oversight fee collections and 1,300 more prisoners than the department had planned for originally.

Emerson’s letter tells lawmakers that MDOC will seek an additional $28 million to pay for the overruns, while closing the remainder of the gap with unspecified spending cuts in the department.

Rep. John Proos, (R-St. Joseph) says MDOC has a serious problem staying within its budget, noting that it has “blown through its caps” two out of the last three years.

The issues surrounding the budget overruns are clear, Proos says.

“One, the department is run in an inefficient manner, and two, i believe our salary and benefit scales are out of whack with surrounding states,” says Proos. He says the states bordering Michigan spend on average $70 a day per prisoner while Michigan spends over $90 per day. Proos says that MDOC officials have seen an average of over three percent increases every year since 2003, and blames that on the office of the state employer, which negotiates contracts, and the governor’s office.

The lawmaker would like to see the money taken from the 2010-2011 fiscal budget.

“If I had a way to influence it other than being a legislator asking questions, I would hold it from next year,” Proos said. But the House has already approved a budget for next fiscal year, which was more than the Republican-controlled Senate had approved. That, he said, means that the conference committee will have to iron out the differences and he believes he will be unable to get approval to withhold $28 million from that budget.

John Cordell, a spokesman for MDOC, says the overruns are necessary to department operations and are often unforeseeable.

“There is a cost to doing business,” Cordell said. “Corrections is unlike any other state agency in that we house over 45,000 people. While we have been able to control our population, there are things that are out of our control and that creates an underfunded situation. Utilities, fuel, health care costs, food costs, and employee compensation costs including overtime, step increase costs (wage and salary increases mandated by contract), and workers’ compensation all create pressures on the corrections budget.”

MDOC also kept the Standish and Muskegon prisons open beyond their scheduled closing. The goal was to get those facilities used by the federal government or another state. For months, state and local officials unsuccessfully courted the federal government to locate prisoners from Guantanamo Bay Cuba to Standish.

At the same time state officials also negotiated for months to bring prisoners from other states to either Standish or Muskegon. Ultimately those efforts proved successful, with Pennsylvania sending some 1,300 prisoners to Muskegon.

“We knew that there would be additional costs as a result of keeping three facilities open past September 30,” Cordell said. “The Department was working with all interested parties in an attempt to keep from having to close the facilities by bringing prisoners from other agencies into the prisons. We were able to achieve this with the Muskegon Correctional Facility, saving nearly 300 jobs.”

But Proos says some of the spending issues in the prison system point to inefficiencies. He says that on average prisoners have 10 prescription drugs. Those drugs are handled by dozens of people from the time they are received in central receiving to the time they are distributed to the prisoners.

Proos also says that there are savings to be found in things as simple as the prison menus, noting that MDOC currently has different menus at each prison.

“Because of that, we can’t harness the power of buying,” Proos said. He says the state can save nearly $6 million a year by standardizing the menus, but “the department has refused.”

But MDOC spokesman John Cordell says the department has been looking at standardized menus.

“The MDOC is currently piloting a program that would standardize menus statewide to help lower overall costs,” Cordell says. “We are seeing savings in the pilot and the department is committed to realizing cost-saving measures through supply chain management in both food service and prisoner transportation.”

Proos stopped short of calling for MDOC Director Patricia Caruso’s resignation over the budget problem.

“I think Director Caruso needs to provide answers. She is ultimately responsible, as is the governor,” Proos said when asked if Caruso should resign over the overspending.

jchev Economic Issues, Michigan