S.C. prisons feeling the pinch

Some facilities may close, Corrections chief says

By JIM DAVENPORT - The Associated Press

Despite a frugal daily diet of $1.43 worth of macaroni, rice, turkey parts and organ meat for each of its 23,977 prisoners, the South Carolina Department of Corrections can’t pay its bills, and the agency is considering closing some facilities.

The department expects to overspend by $4.3 million in the current fiscal year, which ends June 30.

The outlook is worse for next year. Corrections Department director Jon Ozmint said Monday he expects court-ordered supervision to follow any prison shutdowns.

“There’s nothing more that can be cut,” Ozmint said. “It would take a huge layoff and closing of institutions for us to come up with money for next year’s budget.”

Ozmint said food, medical and fuel costs this year are running $8 million ahead of expectations in a prison system that costs nearly $1 million a day to run. He contends the agency’s total spending of $336 million this year started $129 million short because the budget doesn’t keep up with inflation and still lacks money slashed during past state budget cuts.

The agency, with 5,690 workers, has 1,500 fewer officers than it should and is the nation’s least expensive prison system, Ozmint said. Inmate meals cost $1.43 a day — up from $1.28 daily a year ago, he said. They’re supplemented with eggs from an operation prisoners run.

In comparison, Mississippi was spending $1.43 to feed each inmate in 1999, according to a report to that state’s Legislature. U.S. Justice Department reports in 1999 showed the national average was $2.96 per inmate; by 2001, that figure had fallen to $2.62. The federal Bureau of Prisons spends an average of $2.68 per inmate at its 114 facilities.

Lately, the South Carolina agency has made ends meet by using salaries from unfilled positions to cover its operations. But with the economy slowing, fewer people leaving their jobs and more people taking prison jobs, Ozmint said, there’s less salary money to cover operations.

To head off problems expected next year, Ozmint said his department is mulling closing three minimum-security facilities that prepare inmates for release. If those are closed and inmates are crowded into higher-security prisons, Ozmint said, “We’d almost be inviting court supervision.”

The State Budget and Control Board is to hear a request today to let the prisons agency finish the current budget year with a deficit. The shortfall could be made up by surpluses elsewhere or tapping reserves.

The Corrections Department seldom is a favorite for budget writers, but red ink flows more frequently at the state prison system than at other agencies. Since 2001, it has run a total of $57.5 million in the red, including $23.7 million in the 2004 fiscal year, according to state budget figures.

Corrections Department deficits have accounted for most of the $67.1 million in red ink posted by agencies since fiscal 2001.

Much of the remainder was tied to criminal justice agencies, with $6 million of that linked to deficits at the Department of Juvenile Justice, the State Law Enforcement Division and two other agencies charged with prosecuting and defending people.