Pubdate: Thu, 31 Mar 2005
Source: Tuscaloosa News, The (AL)
Copyright: 2005 The Tuscaloosa News
Contact:  http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1665
Author: Jacob Jordan, Associated Press
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/prison.htm (Incarceration)

CORRECTIONS DIRECTOR: AGENCY NEEDS MORE MONEY TO OPERATE SAFELY 

Behind the razor-wire fence and inside a small room at the Turbeville
Correctional Institution, about 25 inmates sit in a circle and jot
down notes about self-discovery in an alcohol and drug abuse class.

The program is one of several in the Corrections Department that would
end if the Senate doesn't restore funding cuts made in the House
version of the state budget, agency director Jon Ozmint said Monday.

"We just have grave concerns about the funding," Ozmint said on a tour
of the treatment program at the medium security prison in Turbeville,
which is about 15 miles east of Sumter. "We can't safely cut anymore."

Ozmint said the program, which serves about 220 inmates ages 17-25 and
a women's program, are in danger because a $1.8 million federal grant
is about to run out.

But that is just part of the problem. The agency also needs money for
more officers, a new food service warehouse ($4.4 million), money to
fix kitchen equipment, leaky roofs and other infrastructure ($5
million) as well as money to replace the agency's aging transportation
fleet, Ozmint said.

"I have a duty to ensure that you are aware of the dire consequences
that the House budget would have on this agency," Ozmint wrote in a
letter to Senate Finance Committee members last week.

The House version of the state's $5.6 billion budget cuts more than
500 of the 800 treatment beds statewide, he said.

Corrections officials said almost half of young offenders released
without treatment will return to prison. By comparison, about
two-thirds receiving treatment don't return. More than 40 percent of
those young offenders in prison are chemically dependent, according to
agency statistics.

"I can think of no better formula to increase recidivism than closing
those operations," Ozmint wrote to lawmakers.

Several lawmakers contacted Monday did not immediately return
telephone messages.

Inmates were split on the substance-abuse treatment
program.

A 21-year-old from Manning who asked not to be identified said the
treatment helped him identify several addictions. "All you have to do
is take your time and accept it," said the inmate, convicted of
second-degree burglary and grand larceny.

But not everyone was satisfied.

A 21-year-old from Anderson who said he was addicted to cocaine didn't
like the intense program and early morning hours. The program begins
at 6:45 a.m. and lasts until 8 p.m., consisting mostly of classes and
counseling.

"They help us in ways, but you've got to be able to help yourself," he
said. The program is mandatory for inmates who were identified with
substance abuse problems. "We've got to do what we got to do to get
out of here."

Ozmint worries the budget cuts will put inmates back into society
without any treatment for their substance abuse problems. That, he
said, is as big an issue as the safety concerns that led the House to
add money to the Corrections Department budget to hire new officers.

Ways and Means chairman Bobby Harrell, R-Charleston, had said after
the House version of the budget passed that education and law
enforcement received more money because an improving economy gave
lawmakers $616 million more to spend.

But Ozmint disagrees. South Carolina is last in the nation in funding
per inmate at $12,170, Ozmint said. North Carolina spends almost twice
that amount while Georgia spends about $5,000 more.

Even with 127 new officers the House budget calls for, the agency
still will be below minimum staffing requirements, Ozmint said.

At Turbeville, for example, during the night hours there may be one
officer for up to 125 inmates.

"It's almost insanity," he said.
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MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin