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| Ozmint: Corrections budget “to the bone” |
| By southcarolinaradionetwork.com |
| Published: 02/02/2010 |
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As the recession continues, South Carolina House subcommittees are garnering information from various state agencies about the status of their budgets and areas they may be able to trim in anticipation of another round of budget cuts that could be as much as 15 percent. Department of Corrections Director Jon Ozmint says his agency’s budget has already been cut to the bone. The Department of Corrections reportedly operates on a budget of $12,170 per inmate, per year. That budget is reported to be the lowest per inmate cost in the nation. In comparison, the neighboring state of Georgia spends approximately $18,500 per inmate, North Carolina approximately $23,000 per inmate and the Federal Bureau of Prisons close to $30,000 per inmate. Ozmint adds that state corrections employees experienced massive furloughs in 2009. “I guess we are one of the few state agencies, less than 10 percent, who took mandatory furloughs across the board for everybody. The budget situation in this state is not going to improve, we all know that, and we are doing everything we can to live within our budget. Ozmint says the ever increasing inmate population is further straining his agency’s ever-shrinking budget. “If you are going to continue to incarcerate 24,000 people and you are doing it cheaper than anybody else in the country, there are such things that can be considered impossible.” Ozmint says he will request that the department run at a deficit as it did last year. Read More. |
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