Prison budget cuts capture attention of Assembly members
Story and Photos By DEBORAH A. MILES

PEF Region 7 Coordinator Tom Donahue addressed Assembly members at a statewide forum about work force issues at the state Department of Correctional Services (DOCS) October 21 in Albany.

Donahue, a DOCS vocational instructor for more than 25 years, told the panel this year’s state budget took a cleaver to the most useful programs in DOCS.

“The budget cut 40 PEF employees from the program services unit, which provides all educational and drug treatment services to inmates. The cuts are a result of vacant titles and without these items, it makes it impossible to reduce caseloads. Inmates who earn a high school degree or successfully complete a substance abuse program have significantly lower recidivism rates than inmates who do not complete the programs,” Donahue said. “The budget cuts increase recidivism.”

Assembly members Joe Giglio and Gary D. Finch, co-chairs of the forum, asked Donahue about PEF’s recommendations on ways to return inmates to communities.

“PEF is concerned about public safety and the state’s ability to prepare inmates to return to communities. DOCS keeps most inmates in maximum-security facilities for a longer period of time. DOCS should change its rules and make better use of medium- and minimum-security facilities that were designed to transition inmates into communities.

“It is better for the inmates and better for taxpayers,” Donahue said.

Nursing shortage pricey
Donahue told the panel DOCS is having difficulty implementing the new law restricting mandatory overtime for nurses. Currently, 159 nursing positions are vacant in DOCS.

“The high nursing vacancy rate makes a facility mandate overtime. We have received a large number of complaints from nurses. It also leads to greater use of contract nurses which costs the state at least 50 percent more than hiring state employees to fill these vacant positions,” Donahue said.

Saving billions
Most of DOCS consultant spending is for medical and clinical services. It spent more than $181 million on consultants in the last fiscal year; $7 million more than the previous year.

“The Legislature should require the governor to institute a consultant reduction plan with a goal of replacing about half of them with state employees. Each state agency should be given specific consultant reduction goals over the next three years. This plan would save the state nearly three-quarters of a billion dollars over three years and would result in $417 million in recurrent permanent annual savings,” Donahue said.

Assembly member Joseph S. Saladino said the state is suffering from a disease – poor fiscal management.
“We want to work hard with you and do surgery on this disease,” Saladino said. “We need to send this message to the governor and Legislature. This surgery needs to be done with a scalpel and not with an ax.”

Assembly member Joel M. Miller thanked PEF for the consultant figures. He said, “It is important to eliminate wasteful spending and concentrate on appropriate spending in DOCS.”

Other Assembly members of the forum — Robert C. Oaks, Joseph A. Errigo, Teresa Sayward and Jane Corwin — also said their goal was to ensure appropriate staffing levels at DOCS, and safety for staff, inmates and the general public.