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October 09, 2008
OK: Millions more sought for prison system
Millions more sought for prison system
By TOM LINDLEY World Capitol Bureau
10/9/2008
The proposed $591 million budget includes increases for operations and construction.
OKLAHOMA CITY — A new budget proposal approved Wednesday by the Oklahoma Board of Corrections calls for $88 million more in operating funds and more than $318 million in new construction in fiscal year 2010.
As part of its $591 million budget request, the Corrections Department wants more money to:
Pay for a projected 2.5 percent increase in the prison population next year, most of which is linked to the Legislature's "85 percent" sentencing laws.
Put employee wages in line with those of contiguous states with a $36 million compensation package.
Update the aging prison system, including $184 million for more than 1,500 new maximum-security beds at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary.
The department budgeted an additional $6.1 million for inmate population growth, $9.6 million in security improvements, $7.6 million in mandatory costs, $7.1 million in operating equipment and $2.8 million in treatment programs.
Director Justin Jones said the budget proposal that will go before the Legislature next year includes recommendations from a performance audit authorized last year by
lawmakers.
With a drop in prison receptions, Jones said, the overall prison population would be in decline if not for the rule requiring a large number of inmates to serve at least 85 percent of their prison sentences.
"We have enhanced punishment, so people are staying longer," he said.
The system also is experiencing an influx of women and Hispanics, he said.
At the current rate, the number of female inmates is expected to increase by 11 percent by 2013. Oklahoma already has the highest incarceration rate of females in the country, the latest Bureau of Justice statistics show.
Jones said the number of Hispanics incarcerated has increased by 45 percent to 1,700 since 2005 and that the growth rate is expected to increase by 86 percent by 2013.
Although the department has experienced some recent hiring success, Jones said, the average pay for correction officers in state-operated facilities is $400 a month less than in surrounding states.
The new budget also anticipates 84 percent staffing, compared with 81 percent in the current budget.
Although the need for millions of dollars to fund new construction has become a routine budget request item in recent years, its urgency was highlighted in the recent review of the Corrections Department.
Jones said there is a need to replace practically everything inside OSP's walls and to add more than 1,200 medium-security beds and 900 minimum-security beds.
Commission members also were told Wednesday that the department is on track to experience a $9 million deficit in the current fiscal year. But Jones cautioned that it is still early in the fiscal year and that department officials expect that it will make up the deficit.
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Posted by lois at October 9, 2008 03:06 PM