|
|
| RI Prisons Could Face Closures |
| By projo.com |
| Published: 12/23/2010 |
|
CRANSTON — If the state wants the Department of Corrections to cut 15 percent from its $182-million budget, Director A.T. Wall said he can, but the result would be a smaller prison system that would force the state to relax its standards for who goes to prison and for how long. “If you are talking about a 15-percent reduction, there is almost no option short of closing a facility,” Wall said. Of the eight facilities that make up the Adult Correctional Institutions, he said two would have to go: the high-security unit and the Donald Price Medium Security Prison. Those facilities combined housed 435 inmates last year. Wall estimated the state would save about $19.6 million by closing the two units, cutting back on the next recruiting class of correctional officers, and then would generate an estimated $12 million by selling the Price building. The proposal does not include any layoffs, Wall said. Staff would be reassigned to other parts of the ACI instead to save an estimated $132,000 in avoided overtime. The closings were offered up after state Budget Officer Thomas A. Mullaney asked all state department heads to show how, if asked, they’d cut spending by 15 percent in the next fiscal year, when there are projections of a $295-million deficit. Mullaney has said there was no specific plan to implement such cuts, but the Carcieri administration thought the effort could provide options for Governor-elect Chafee and the General Assembly. Read More. |
MARKETPLACE search vendors | advanced search
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
|
Comments:
No comments have been posted for this article.
Login to let us know what you think