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| Prisons Audit Finds Problems with Ohio Food Service, College Program |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 11/19/2001 |
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Ohio spent $2.8 million on college classes for inmates who didn't meet eligibility requirements or didn't attend class, according to an audit released recently. The Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction also paid a private food-service company $2.08 million more for meals served to inmates than the state's contract with the company required, according to the audit. The report by state Auditor Jim Petro has two parts. The first is an investigation of a contract between the state and Aramark, which is based in Oakbrook, Ill., to provide meals to inmates at Noble Correctional Institution in Caldwell. The two-year, $6.8 million contract was signed in October 1998. The second part is an investigation of the prison system's higher-education school system and specific programs at Noble and the Belmont Correctional Institution in St. Clairsville. Petro began investigating the Aramark contract in December 1999 after getting an anonymous tip that the company was billing the state for meals it hadn't served, according to the report. He began investigating the school system after three prison officials at Noble and Belmont expressed concerns about the system in January 2000. Among allegations the officials raised: *Ineligible inmates were enrolled in the programs at Noble and Belmont prisons. *The colleges -- including Belmont Technical College, Muskingum College and Muskingum Area Technical College -- did not monitor inmate participation and attendance. *Encouraged by the prison system's director of higher education, colleges billed the state and received payment for inmates who weren't enrolled in the program or who did not attend classes. The prisons system should negotiate with the colleges that were paid for undocumented inmates to recover the money, the report says. The colleges said they couldn't comment because they hadn't seen the report, and neither Petro nor the prisons department would comment. Since the audit began, the state disciplined a prison system principal, reassigned several central office officials -- including Samuel Jackson, the prison system's higher- education director -- and instituted internal audits and tighter policies and procedures. A state employees' union took over food service at Noble after Aramark's contract expired. The company spokeswoman said she could not immediately comment. |
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