Pubdate: Mon, 07 Aug 2006
Source: Ledger, The (FL)
Copyright: 2006 The Ledger
Contact:  http://www.theledger.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/795
Author: Joe Follick, Ledger Tallahassee Bureau
Note: McDonough was McCaffrey's ONDCP Director of Strategy, then Jeb 
Bush's drug czar from 1999 to 2006.

CHIEF OF DOC CUTS COSTS OF PRISON

TALLAHASSEE -- While much of the state was focusing on corruption in 
the Department of Corrections that toppled his predecessor earlier 
this year, Secretary James McDonough couldn't ignore e-mails from 
families of inmates.

Many were similar to this: "I have had to bear the brunt of high 
phone bills, outrageous canteen prices and banking fees, just so my 
fiance could have a hint of normalcy," one woman wrote. "I don't take 
away the fact that my fiance did something wrong and had to pay for 
his mistakes, but I have often felt that I too was being punished. 
After all, it is the families that have to pay."

The e-mails have led McDonough to partly reverse a national trend of 
generating profit from inmates. Since McDonough replaced James Crosby 
in February, he has cut fees on prisoners' bank accounts, reduced 
price hikes in canteens that sell items to inmates and cut the cost 
of long-distance collect calls by 30 percent.

McDonough classifies the reaction from inmates' families as 
"absolutely shocked."

"I started thinking, 'There but for the grace of God go I,' " 
McDonough said. "If I had a loved one in prison, if they wanted to 
call me, I'd take the phone call. If I couldn't afford it, I'd take 
the phone call because that's it, that's the only connection you have."

McDonough also reduced the fees on inmates' bank accounts that are 
held by each prison, calling the previous charge of $1 per week "usurious."

That fee was collected regardless of how much or little an inmate spent.

McDonough reduced the fee to one percent of withdrawals, and also 
reduced the weekly withdrawal limit from $100 to $65 to counter 
entrepreneurial inmates who purchase items and resell them.

He also eliminated fees on deposits from the Veterans Administration 
for inmates who had served in the military and for special-needs 
withdrawals for things like birthday gifts for family outside of prison.

"That money (in inmate bank accounts) was coming from family. So, 
sort of the same logic again, who are we really gouging?" McDonough said.

McDonough also has eliminated the ability of the contractor that 
operates prison canteens -- Keefe Commissary -- to raise costs 10 
percent every six months. The contract now allows the increase only 
once a year. A subcontractor with Keefe was at the center of a 
kickback scheme that led to Crosby's firing and looming prison time.

McDonough said there was no reason for twice-a-year increases "except 
that it was profit, making big money."

The cut in phone call fees means a drop from about $17 million 
collected by the agency annually to $7 million. And the bank fee cut 
will cost the agency about $800,000.

That's not a big deal in an agency with an annual budget of nearly 
$2.3 billion. But it also puts McDonough at odds with a Legislature 
that has cut the agency's budget with orders to make up the 
difference with increased inmate fees.

McDonough said the Legislature's proposal of hiking bank fees to $6 
per month on all inmates would not have made up the $5 million that 
was cut from the agency's budget this year. He called the plan 
"complete and utter artificiality" and said he will push for less 
circuitous funding next year.

Legislators who chair the justice appropriations committees did not 
return calls requesting comment.

The Polk County Sheriff's Office will receive $1.6 million from 
"inmate phone commissions" at the county jail, according to the 
agency's 2006- 2007 budget report.

And Polk Sheriff Grady Judd said Sunday he has no intention of 
dropping the fees.

"I absolutely will not cut the costs to the inmates at the county 
jail," Judd said. "I intend the inmates to pay all they can to 
relieve the tax burden of the hardworking folks of Polk County.

"They can avoid all the costs by staying out of the county jail and 
behaving," he said.

Information on how much Polk County Jail inmates are charged to use a 
telephone or the specifics of any other fees incurred by inmates was 
not available Sunday night.

Groups who champion inmates' rights welcome McDonough's changes.

"It's certainly a breath of fresh air," said Randall Berg, executive 
director of the Florida Justice Institute.

Berg's group sued the Legislature over the implementation of banking 
fees in 2004. He said the use of fees and collection of profit from 
phone calls is "penny-wise, pound-foolish."

"We want these people to not go back to prison," Berg said. "If we 
cut them off from family members and friends, then obviously once 
they get out they'll have no support and be more likely to go back to prison."

McDonough says concern about inmates' health and fiscal well-being 
does not mean soft treatment. He said a well-fed inmate with hopes 
for the future presents fewer problems. "There's nothing that says 
you have to be soft and fuzzy," McDonough said. "There is the idea of 
firmness, but also fairness."

McDonough hasn't commented on whether he'd stay as secretary when 
Gov. Jeb Bush leaves in January. But he has a long-term vision of 
refining the DOC's approach with prisoners.

In a video shown to agency employees earlier this year, he urged 
workers to avoid cursing on the job.

"We're a professional outfit," he said. "You don't address people who 
are beholden to the rules you set with demeaning language." He also 
talks at length about the problems of the mentally ill in state 
prisons and has asked other state agencies to

assist in treatment programs.

He has sneaked into prison food lines to sample meals. His review: 
"It was not fine cuisine, but it was good." He's also asked clergy in 
the prison to keep tabs on whether inmates have enough time to eat.

He has proposed having construction businesses train inmates for work 
after they leave prison. He's also suggested using inmates to help 
pick citrus crops to offset a lack of manpower in the industry.

And he's pledged to have more inmates participate in PRIDE, the 
company that uses inmates to build furniture and other items for sale 
to businesses and the state.

McDonough said the percentage of inmates in the program is "abysmal," 
with 1.69 percent of male inmates and 2.68 percent of female inmates 
working for PRIDE, figures he'd like to see increased to 25 percent 
or higher. The ultimate goal is reducing recidivism.

"If I'm right on this, then I'm saying in about five years we can 
actually start building down corrections institutions because we 
would have done what our name implies, we would have corrected this 
behavior," McDonough said.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman