a new hire of the special studies division of the state budget office
or
warden of a medium-security prison:
Bailey,
Anderson, or
Cortland
From: Charles Hitchner, Chief, Special Studies Division
Subject: Budgeting for the Corrections Department
For your first job, I'd like you to evaluate a submission from the Corrections Department. Two years ago the previous governor proposed legislation that required each department to set goals with a strategic planning process, develop performance measures, and then prepare budgets using those goals and measures; the state legislature enacted his proposal with only minor changes. We are now receiving submissions from departments of the measures they propose to use for budgeting. I'd like you to analyze one from the Corrections Department. I particularly want your comments on how--if at all--the budget office could use the suggested performance measures to allocate funds to and among the 3 medium-security prisons.
While you think about this, you should be aware that the Department has yet to conclude its strategic planning process. The main problem, as I understand it, is that they're having a hard time getting the governor and the state legislature to agree on which goals the system should emphasize. I've also attached a recent newspaper article that is relevant.
From: John Bentham, Corrections Commissioner
Subject: The Performance Budgeting Process
This memo outlines draft guidelines for the performance budgeting process. Please send me your comments on whether the proposed process and suggested performance measures would help you budget for and manage your prison. I have also asked the state budget office for reactions.
In the new process, all prisons will be required to report annual figures for their performance measures. During operating budget preparation, each prison will prepare a target baseline with funding set at 95% of the current year level. Any prison may also submit proposals for performance enhancement, to be financed out of the 5% reserved funds and from new appropriations. These proposals must predict how funding increments will produce changes in measured performance.
Table 1 shows two years of data for selected performance measures for all three prisons. Note that this data is incomplete, as we have yet not required annual reporting for all of these measure.
Table 2 shows program and budget details for the three medium-security prisons.
We are being asked to testify on a possible second phase of performance measurement. The governor's policy planning staff has proposed that prison budgets be based on analyses of the social and economic outcomes from incarceration. I would like your thoughts about whether the department should support or oppose this idea.
By Jeremy Swift, Staff Correspondent
State Corrections Commissioner John Bentham warned yesterday that the state prison system might need to release some prisoners before their terms are up. Testifying before the State Senate's Committee on Criminal Justice, Bentham predicted the legislature "will have to fund construction of two additional prisons in the next decade if present trends continue. In addition, the oldest prison in the state--Bailey--needs to be replaced with a modern, cost-effective facility."
Bentham argued that one way to significantly reduce the need for new prisons was ending mandatory sentences for those convicted of minor drug offenses. "Over 60% of the prison population is incarcerated for drug violations, and mandatory sentencing laws are the main reason why the prison population has more than doubled in the past decade." He suggested the state instead might use electronic home monitoring for first-time drug offenders. He warned that though the state boot camp is running smoothly, it has not reduced corrections costs--"we require graduates to see parole officers more often, which means we've had to hire more officers. We also think that judges are filling the camp with offenders who would otherwise be placed on probation, so the camps are not really reducing the need for new prisons."
Bentham concluded his testimony by discussing the recent court judgment that crowding at Cortland and Bailey prisons violate prisoners' rights. "While the state is vigorously appealing this ruling, we have to plan for the possibility that we will lose. We can't put additional prisoners into Anderson prison because it is a new, efficiently-designed prison. I've asked the wardens of Bailey and Cortland to prepare a list of inmates who would be released if we are forced not to exceed 110% of capacity. Our current regulations require us to release those inmates convicted of non-violent crimes who are closest to completing their sentences. You should also know that the level of crowding in these prisons presents my wardens with major problems. While we haven't had any escapes, crowding reduces our ability to meet management goals."
Bentham was then interrupted by Senator Rizzo (R-Adams County), who said, "I've heard enough--you are a typical liberal who wants to coddle rapists and murderers. Do you really think "drug offenders" haven't committed other crimes? I suggest that the citizens will be quite willing to build as many prisons as it takes to take these hoodlums off the streets. And let's not let these scum watch TV and lift weights while we pay for their room and board. They should be happy to have a place to sleep, and I don't care how crowded they are."
When Bentham attempted to respond, Senator Martinez (D-Roosevelt County) said "Once again, the Senator is arguing that we go back to feudal times. Next, he'll argue for the stocks! We would be more sensible--and save money over the long run--if your prisons rehabilitated more inmates. What's gained by having them sit in their cells, learning nothing but rage? In my opinion, we should spend more on job training and on drug and alcohol counseling."
The hearing was then interrupted by a vote of the full Senate.