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| Corrections to pay $450,000 to study prison efficiency |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 06/13/2005 |
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The Illinois Corrections Department plans to spend nearly $450,000 for an accounting firm to determine whether state prisons are operating efficiently, although its own staff has conducted two similar studies in the past two years. The San Francisco-based firm will review state prisons, looking at staffing levels, employee duties and operational efficiency, Corrections spokeswoman Dede Short said. But the union representing prison officers complained last Wednesday that prisons are dangerously understaffed and the money should be spent to hire more security staff. The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees also questioned the qualifications of the firm, which has never reviewed a statewide prison system. An executive for Harvey M. Rose Accountancy Corp. said the company could handle the work. The $443,975 contract has not yet been signed, Short said, but it is outlined in an internal memo obtained by The Associated Press. The study should start this summer and finish by year's end, Short said. The review comes even as the General Assembly recently slashed the Corrections Department's budget by $88 million, or 6.4 percent. The agency's employee headcount, according to state records, has plummeted 13 percent, from 16,104 in August 2002 to 14,020 in April, while the inmate population has grown by more than 1,100 in the same period. "We just want to get some independent information," Short said. "It might help us, it might tell us we're on target, or it might tell us we can become more efficient." |
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