News from The Senate Majority

Alaska State Legislature

Wendy Lindskoog, Senate Majority Press Secretary
716 West 4th Avenue, Suite 510
Anchorage, Alaska 99501
Phone: 907/258-8184
web site: http://www.akrepublicans.org
Broadcast Actualities: 800/478-6540

Union’s Accusations Unfounded

Department of Corrections is Doing Less With More

For Immediate Release: September 17, 1997 Contact: Senator Jerry Ward at (907) 258-8183

Anchorage -- Senator Jerry Ward, Senate Finance Subcommittee Chair on Corrections, responded to the correctional officers ‘informational picket’ Wednesday saying that despite their appropriating more money to the Department of Corrections (DOC) than they spent in 1997, the Knowles administration has not made the correct spending decisions to ensure safe working conditions, manageable caseloads, adequate staffing and sufficient inmate supervision.

"We depended on the expertise of the DOC’s top management to make safe and sound decisions on how to spend the money," said Ward. "If our confidence in the Department’s ability to manage its budget was misplaced, that’s an issue we’ll have to deal with next session."

In a written statement from the DOC employee’s union, Alaska correctional officers and their supporters implied that Legislative budget cuts were responsible for the August 27, 1997 rape on the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail by a parole violator.

"This is ludicrous. According to a Daily News account of the rape, the lax reporting of parolees happens on a fairly regular basis and for this reason, a grace period has been built into the system. How can the DOC tie this rape to budget cuts when parole policies fall on the shoulders of Department management?" Ward said.

The 1997 Legislature passed an operating budget with an appropriation for the Department of Corrections of $137,754,400. The Legislature allowed the Department of Corrections to carryforward all leftover money from the FY 97 budget estimated at $2.56 million. This amount, combined with the FY 98 funding, provided for a budget increase of over $1.5 million dollars.

"The DOC has consistently complained about its budget, yet under the Knowles administration it has not spent all the money it has been appropriated each year. In the 1995 fiscal year, for example, DOC carried forward over $2 million dollars. And this year, it did not spend over $2.5 million of the legislative appropriation," Ward said.

"The bottom line is the DOC is doing less with more!" said Ward.

The Republican-led Majority made "safe neighborhoods" one of its top priorities last session. Legislators worked diligently on the Corrections budget to address as many problems as possible with the growing prison population.

• The finance committees reorganized the department's FY 98 budget to provide the administration with more flexibility in shifting money to areas of greatest need, including the option to put more money into institution and parole personnel.
  
• A budget was developed that specifically directed funding to new and existing community residential centers and out of state prison contracts. This legislative directive means that more misdemeanants, as well as inmates with only months of their sentences remaining, should be moved to half way houses in local communities.
  
• A bill was introduced to build a new private sector prison facility in Alaska to replace the need for an out of state contract to house our inmates.

Right now, legislators are currently busy with a number of corrections related activities, including serving on the Criminal Justice System Project Task Force. This Task Force, which brings all three branches of government as well as public and private people together will look at problems in our court and prison systems.

# # #