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| Ill. Prison Audit Finds Several Mistakes |
| By Bloomington Pantagraph |
| Published: 05/02/2003 |
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State prison officials are getting out of the doll-making business in Lincoln after a program designed to help inmates learn work skills lost more than $38,000. The program's demise was detailed April 23 by state auditors, who criticized the Illinois Department of Corrections for failing to analyze the financial benefits of the program before starting it. In Central Illinois, auditors found numerous accounting errors at Logan Correctional Center, Lincoln Correctional Center and at the women's prison in Dwight. In all, the department oversees 28 adult institutions, nine juvenile centers and Illinois Correctional Industries. Rag dolls were made by inmates at Lincoln Correctional Center as part of the Correctional Industries program, which uses prison labor to make a variety of products. Auditors said the dolls cost more than $38,379 to produce, but were valued at less than $1,708. Auditors uncovered more than 50 accounting problems throughout the prison system. It's not the first time Correctional Industries has come under fire. Past debacles included a tire recycling operation in Lincoln that became a potential fire hazard. In addition to the dolls, Correctional Industries also scrapped a plan to use inmates to tame wild horses in hopes of selling them to the public. The program was to take place at the minimum-security Vienna Correctional Center in Southern Illinois. The proposal called for the state to accept wild horses from the U.S. Department of the Interior in hopes of making them 'adoptable.' An agency spokesman said Correctional Industries isn't only about making money for the state. It also helps inmates train for work in the outside world. 'Failure to analyze the cost effectiveness of the major business decisions prior to implementation could result in an inefficient use of state resources,' noted the report by Auditor General William Holland. |
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