|
|
| S.C. Prison Director Ends Accreditation at Four Facilities to Save Money |
| By Associated Press / The State |
| Published: 04/15/2003 |
|
The Corrections Department has dropped accreditation at four of its prisons to save money, agency Director Jon Ozmint says. The move will leave six of the state's 29 prisons unaccredited, and Ozmint says if the budget situation does not improve next year, more prisons may lose their seal of approval from the American Correctional Association. The outside accreditation will be replaced by what Ozmint said will be tougher in-house evaluations. 'Do you pay someone to tell you you're meeting standards that you already exceed?' Ozmint said. But others say that means the same people who run the prisons will be responsible for making sure that they are run right. Bob Verdeyen, ACA's accreditation director, has tried to persuade Ozmint to keep the contracts because he said accreditation helps reduce liability insurance premiums. It also can help corrections departments defend against some lawsuits, Verdeyen said. 'It doesn't guarantee that you won't be held liable, but logic tells me we would have been sued more times,' Verdeyen said, referring to his 11 years as a federal prison warden. 'There's no watchdog,' said Mike Davis of U.S. Risk Underwriters, one of the nation's largest companies that manage insurance for private prisons. The move will save $250,000, no small amount when the prison department is facing a $28 million deficit this fiscal year, which ends June 30. The new director, who officially took over the department in February, has eliminated 148 jobs to save money. Most of the cuts came in education programs. The money the agency would have spent accrediting the four prisons whose citations run out this year would have cost a quarter of the agency's maintenance budget for all 29 institutions, Ozmint said. The prisons that will lose accreditation are Perry, the state's smallest maximum-security facility; McDougall, a medium-security prison; Walden, a minimum-security facility; and Watkins, another minimum-security prison. |
advertise
|
privacy policy
|
add URL
|
about us
|
terms/disclaimer
|
contact us
|
join our team
|
help
If you’re looking for a lawyer in Waco, you’ll need to know that the first to hire Dunnam & Dunnam usually wins. If you have a personal injury claim, an insurance claim, or other matter involving a court or business transaction you should contact the best Waco attorneys to explain your legal rights. You can contact them on the website link above.