Budget agreement keeps corrections workers on job

Op Ed

Published January 29, 2010

Legislative leaders can get a lot accomplished if some members didn't spend time grandstanding. Even before they start the session next month, some lawmakers have been hard at work trying to forestall state employee furloughs.

We appreciate the work of central Oklahoma legislators Sen. Anthony Sykes and Rep. Randy Terrill in helping craft an agreement with the governor on a $7.2 million cash infusion into the Department of Corrections budget.

State Corrections Director Justin Jones had started the process of requiring prison guards to schedule furlough days this spring. That means prisons, already short-staffed with high turnover, will be able to maintain security levels. This is helpful to the guards and the inmates.

The state's public employees association has commended Sen. Sykes and Rep. Terrill as well as House Speaker Chris Benge and Senate Pro Tem Glenn Coffee.

The agreement also is a tribute to state workers who helped demonstrate the need to keep the agencies at full staff. Corrections employees are kind of like the offensive line in football. They don't get noticed until something goes wrong.

Corrections Training Academies to Move to OKC

Action Will Save
More Than
Half-Million Dollars
a year!

The Department of Corrections will relocate its correctional officer training from Wilburton to the Highway Patrol Training Center in Oklahoma City, officials announced today.

The agency will also relocate a separate employee training facility from the OU College of Continuing Education in Norman to the Oklahoma City facility.

The move is expected to save the state more than $500,000 without a reduction in services.

“In this time of budget downturn, this is going to save money in one of our most vital public safety areas – corrections,” said state Sen. Anthony Sykes, a Moore Republican who chairs the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Public Safety and Judiciary. “This helps both agencies better utilize existing resources in the most cost-effective way possible while maintaining public safety standards.”

Sykes noted the announcement comes a day before Senate Republicans plan to discuss their public safety agenda – on Thursday at an 11 a.m. press conference.

“This move will centralize and consolidate training for correctional officers,” said state Rep. Randy Terrill, a Moore Republican who chairs the House appropriations subcommittee on public safety and judiciary. “We believe this move will produce a nice synergy between the DPS and DOC and save taxpayer money while maintaining training standards.”

Closing the Wilburton facility is expected to save about $250,000 annually and moving the training center at the College of Continuing Education at OU will save another $350,000 – bringing the total annual savings to approximately $600,000.

Staff at the Wilburton and OU facilities will be relocated to fill higher-priority positions currently vacant or understaffed at DOC.

The Department of Corrections just completed the agreement with the Department of Public Safety to use the DPS facility.

As part of the agreement, inmate labor will be used to provide food, janitorial, maintenance and grounds-keeping services at the Oklahoma City facility. As much as 70 percent of food products served at the facility will come from prison farms.

“From a budget standpoint, the Department of Corrections is out of cash,” said Justin Jones, director of the state Department of Corrections. “We have no other option than to look at consolidation of services with other state agencies. This happened to be one option that was very workable and amenable to both state agencies and it provides greater efficiencies without reduction in quality of training or reduction in public safety preparedness.”

“Some agencies have assets that can be used by other agencies in these tough economic times,” said Commissioner of Public Safety Kevin Ward. “It appears the Department of Public Safety’s facility is compatible with DOC’s training needs, so we are glad to share assets and make better use of personnel and infrastructure at both agencies. By combining resources, we believe our two agencies will both save money and put out a great work product.”

The move should also enhance recruitment and retention efforts as well as save some correctional officers the cost of extensive travel to southeast Oklahoma to attend the more-than-month-long training sessions.

SENATOR SYKES TAKE EXCEPTION TO PEW CENTER STUDY ON PUBLIC SAFETY, CORRECTIONS

Responding to a study reported Wednesday by the Associated Press, Senate President Pro Tem Glenn Coffee and Senator Anthony Sykes said the Pew Center’s Public Safety Performance Project uses flawed data and is affiliated with an organization that is proven soft on criminals.

“The lead story in today’s Oklahoman cites a study that ranks Oklahoma number two in percentage of population behind bars, with an enormous rate increase over the past 25 years,” said Coffee. “But there are several problems with their statistics.”

Coffee says the Pew study was done in conjunction with the Vera Institute of Justice – a liberal organization known to endorse leniency toward law-breakers.

“A predecessor of Vera brought us Cal Hobson’s notorious sentencing grid – ten DUI’s before you go to jail…release violent offenders – the greatest hits of the ‘can’t we all just get along’ crowd,” said Coffee, “and now they presume to tell Oklahoma that we incarcerate too many of our bad guys.”

“Further, the figures they cite cover the past 25 years. What they don’t acknowledge is the great progress we’ve made in the past ten years,” he continued.

“What the Pew Center and Vera don’t want you to know is that since the reforms enacted during the Keating administration, incarceration rates in Oklahoma have dropped, while many other states have increased in that same time period, particularly those that followed Vera’s recommendations.” Coffee said.

Senator Sykes, a former public defender and Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Public Safety and Judiciary, said “I am committed to ensure that the recent positive indicators within the Department of Corrections continue.

“In the current fiscal year, the inmate population has actually declined in Oklahoma,” he continued. “Recent data proves that Oklahoma’s DOC is now among the most efficient in the nation.”

Coffee noted that while Oklahoma’s incarceration rate has dropped, violent offenders’ rate has increased, which has lowered the cost to victims, potential victims, and society in general.

“James Q. Wilson, one of America’s preeminent social scientists, was quoted in a recent Washington Post, observing that the typical criminal commits from 12 to 16 crimes a year – not counting drug offenses,” Coffee said, “and Wilson points out that sending a higher fraction of convicts to prison resulted in lower rates of crime, and a resulting savings to victims and our society. A high risk of punishment reduces crime, and deterrence works,” said Coffee.

“In addition, Oklahoma is far below the national average in average cost per prisoner per day,” Coffee added. “Oklahoma is being more fiscally responsible than most states when it comes to corrections, while keeping our citizens safer.

“But talk is cheap,” Coffee said. “Facts tend to get in the way of a good story, so let me offer a few facts not mentioned in the Pew report or by those quoted in yesterday’s AP story…”

· Ranking 7th in the nation, Oklahoma is one of 12 states since 2000 whose incarceration rate has dropped. Since 2000, our incarceration rate has declined by nearly 25 inmates per 100,000 residents. The national average is a growth rate of 28 inmates per 100,000 residents.

· Only 5 states' prison population decreased as a percentage more than Oklahoma's (1.5%) between 2006 and 2007. And we are one of only 13 states whose inmate population decreased from 2006 to 2007. (Source Bureau of Justice Statistics, "Prisoners in 2007")

· Oklahoma ranks 41st in the USA in spending per inmate per day. Our costs are 33% below the national average per diem costs for correctional systems.

(Source, MGT Audit)

· In the current fiscal year, the inmate population has actually declined.

· Last year, the inmate population was projected to increase by 1238 and grew by only 219.

“Some of this decrease is due to the recommendations adopted from the MGT Audit requested by the Legislature which has led to better internal efficiency practices of inmate processing and management at DOC,” said Coffee. “What the MGT Audit really highlighted was the fact that inefficient management at DOC not only led to a bloated Department budget but a bloated state prison population.”

“Further, the Legislature has invested heavily in drug courts, which continue to show positive results of diverting drug offenders from prison,” Coffee added. “The current allocation to drug courts is $21 million.”

Coffee also noted the increase in appropriations to the Department of Mental Health and drug courts. Appropriations in FY'05 totaled $155.4 million. The budget increased by $8 million in FY'06 and again in FY'07 for drug court expansion. The FY'09 appropriation is $209.5 million.

“The expansion in drug courts is believed to have led to a reduction in drug offender admissions at DOC and saved the State prison costs,” said Coffee. Considering a drug court offender's annual cost averages about $5k a year vs the $18k a year in a DOC facility, we’re pleased with the results in terms of public safety and fiscal responsibility.

“Finally, it should be pointed out that a DOC official bemoaned the small reduction in the Community Sentencing program’s appropriations last year,” Coffee said. “This has been a bonus to the citizens, however, as the DOC is now doing a better job of management internally, which is leading to a decline in the state incarceration rate.”

Coffee also points out that Oklahoma’s investment in private prisons is a key component in the lower cost of corrections.

Oklahoma Inmates Now Enrolled in Tracking System

Crime victims will now be able to locate any of the more than 25,000 inmates in the custody of the Oklahoma Department of Corrections (DOC) at any time thanks to a partnership between DOC and the Attorney General's Office.

Last week, DOC fully enrolled in the VINE criminal tracking system, which is being implemented in law enforcement agencies across the state.

"We are pleased that VINE is now operational through the Department of Corrections," Attorney General Drew Edmondson said. "Through DOC's diligent work, Oklahomans will now have 24-hour-a-day access to information they could previously obtain only from a live person during business hours. The system will be available to everyone, but the information is particularly valuable to crime victims who are concerned about their safety and that of their loved ones. I commend DOC Director Justin Jones and his staff for their commitment to this program."

VINE stands for Victim Information and Notification Everyday. The program allows Oklahomans to be notified, either by phone or e-mail, of changes in a particular inmate's status. Status changes include transfer, release, escape or death.

"We are excited about the opportunity this will provide for crime victims to be automatically notified of status changes of DOC inmates," said Robbie Fullerton, DOC victim liaison. "We are in the process of notifying persons already registered to receive notification through DOC to let them know that they should now sign up for VINE. However, citizens interested in receiving updates regarding upcoming parole proceedings will still have to call the Pardon and Parole Board."

The program is currently in place in 66 counties, and should be operational in the remaining counties by the end of August.

Visit the Oklahoma VINE Web site