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| S.C. Prisons Department Lays Off Teachers to Save Money |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 04/03/2003 |
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The South Carolina Corrections Department will lay off 87 educators and 61 administrators as part of a plan to save money and gain control of the agency's budget shortfall. Prisons Director Jon Ozmint held a news conference Tuesday to talk about the job cuts and reorganization at the department, which is running a $27.7 million budget deficit. Ozmint said he's not harming prisoners' rehabilitation if about half of the 5,000 adult inmates currently in the education program cannot take classes. The layoffs, effective June 1, will save between $5 million and $8 million, the agency estimates. 'We're not taking all educational opportunities,' Ozmint said. 'There are other programs in prisons that can rehabilitate a man's heart and soul and turn him around, not just education.' He said he's working with the state Education Department to share teachers - who would be paid through state and federal funds - so the prison system's adult education program will be rebuilt structurally without changing its purpose. It's hard to go to bat for inmates when some prison libraries are better than the ones in some public schools, said Elizabeth Gressette, director of the Palmetto State Teachers Association. But inmates shouldn't be stopped from the educational progress, she said. Ozmint also is seeking volunteers to teach inmates basic skills alongside the 114 education employees that will remain. 'We're talking about 52 percent of our inmate population come to us and can't read at an eighth-grade level and don't have GEDs,' he said. 'That's basically what our education program focuses on. It's what it should focus on.' But Ozmint said he couldn't see paying a prison principal three times as much as a officer, so cuts had to be made. Even some wardens, who are responsible 24 hours a day for hundreds of prisoners, make thousands of dollars less than some principals. For now, inmates - who cost the state about $2,700 a year to be in the education programs - will continue signing up for classes. 'All the under-21s will get educated, and we're going to educate everybody we can possibly educate,' Ozmint said. The layoffs do not include any prison officers, but 61 administrators - including headquarters management and support programs staff - also lost their jobs. The agency has 600 fewer officers than it did four years ago, while the total inmate population has grown by nearly 5,000. Ozmint said he will not consider closing a facility because it's 'a short-term solution to a long-term problem.' |
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