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| Prison programs get cut |
| By tulsaworld.com |
| Published: 03/18/2011 |
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Growing inmate idleness could create problems as prison programs are reduced because of budget cuts, a longtime Board of Corrections member indicated Thursday. Cuts are expected to be made to Oklahoma Correctional Industries, an industrial and agricultural program that clothes, feeds and employs inmates. It also makes products that are sold to nonprofit organizations and governmental entities. Lawmakers have passed legislation to let the Oklahoma Department of Corrections take about $5.2 million out of the Oklahoma Correctional Industries operating account to reduce employee furlough days to one a month instead of three days in March and four each in April, May and June. Department of Corrections Director Justin Jones said there was significant relief among agency staff members that furloughs would be reduced. The agency sought a supplemental appropriation of $35 million, of which $9 million was to eliminate furlough days. The request was denied by the Legislature. Legislators are expected to have $500 million less in crafting a fiscal year 2012 budget than in the fiscal year 2011 budget. "When we lose OCI, how many inmates with jobs will sit idle, and what problems will that bring?" asked longtime board member David Henneke during the board's regular monthly meeting Thursday. Jones said the agency is doing what it can to minimize the damage to the Oklahoma Correctional Industries programs. But cutbacks on some products will create idleness, he said. In addition, the Oklahoma Department of Career and Technology Education has eliminated some of its programs at prison facilities, creating additional idleness among inmates, Henneke noted. Jones said CareerTech eliminated 90 slots for inmates. Those slots taught inmates skills such as carpentry, welding, masonry and plumbing, he said. The agency now has 461 slots for the entire prison population, Jones said. While these changes leave the inmates more idle, the agency has the lowest ratio of staff to prisoners, with the highest number of inmates in history, Henneke said. Jones said the number of correctional officers on the staff is just below 68 percent of the department's authorized force. "I am very fearful something drastic or bad will happen, and we can end up with injuries and people hurt," Henneke said. Board member Robert Rainey said staffing ratios are at dangerous levels. Rainey said it was his fear that officials would forget about the agency's past, when a federal court order directed the state on how to operate the agency following a class-action lawsuit. Some board members have expressed frustration with what they see as legislative inaction on the agency's needs. Read More. |
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