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Friday, September 3, 2010

Lawmaker calls for outside look at Department of Corrections

Yesterday, a Republican lawmaker called for an outside investigation of the Department of Corrections, which runs the state's prison system. According to Rep. Tom Creighton, the state needs to take an independent look at the department's leave and sick time policies.

The department is reportedly investigating possible misconduct by supervisors at three separate prisons. If such an investigation is taking place, it's being handled internally by the Office of Professional Responsibility.

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports Creighton doesn't believe that's enough. He says an outside organization needs to take a look at the situation, though stopped short of calling for a specific agency to take on the task.

Creighton's statement is part of pattern of lawmakers taking a closer look at prisons costs over the past few years. Why? Because prison costs are a major cost driver for state government.

The investigation comes to light amid exploding costs for taxpayers to house more than 51,000 inmates. The department with 16,000 employees oversees 26 state correctional institutions, a motivational boot camp and 14 community centers.

The department's budget quintupled during the past 20 years, increasing three times faster than the state's inmate population, state records show. In the 1990-91 budget year, the department cost about $371 million to run, or $16,636 per inmate. This year, the General Assembly budgeted almost $1.9 billion, or $36,404 per inmate.

We don't know enough about the investigation to know if the department of corrections needs outside scrutiny. But there probably isn't a bad time to take a close look at prison costs. Locally, we've already seen such an effort pay off. The Criminal Justice Advisory Board found significant cost savings within the city's criminal justice system. Pennsylvania could benefit from a similar endeavor.

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Posted by Ben Waxman @ 10:34 AM  Permalink | 3 comments
Comments   
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 6:05 PM, 09/03/2010
    These internal affairs devisions exist only to cover up for their agencies...State Parole is the same way! They cover up in case of law suits and are used as goon squades to intimidate employees. The State Attorney General's Office and Office of the Inspector General are too lazy and corrupt to do these investigations, so they wined up covering these DOC and STATE PAROLE OPRs! IT'S CORRUPTION ON TOP OF CORRUPTION!!! Look how many people have died and families have been destroyed because of DOC and STATE PAROLE Corruption in releasing over 100,000 State Prison Inmates, decades before their MAXs. The State Legislature knows this, but they are also too CORRUPT to do anything!!!! Where the hell is the FBI and Eric Holder (The US Attorney General)!?
    — John Law
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 6:11 PM, 09/03/2010
    Here's what’s going on. The BOTTOMLINE and common thread in the INQUIRE series on Courts, Bail, Witness Intimidation and Guns... is STATE PAROLEES! Pennsylvania's Parole Release Rate is an UNBELIEVABLE 55%! That's so far above the national average, it's "Stupid". Good news is, it was 67% for a long time. Since 2003, Rendell has released about 100,000 State Prison Inmates and Parole Board Chairman McVey has been artifically controlling the Parole Failure Rate by NOT issuing arrest warrants for Parole Violators! No arrest warrant = no violation = supervision success = $39,000 saved in State Budget Funds per inmate, per year = SGT. Liczbinski's Murder = SGT.McDonald's Murder = The Piazza Murder's = the Frankford Rapist = BURGESS, THE SERIAL KILLER AND RAPIST and all the other State Parolee Murders (Like Michael Ballard and Warren Wooden who just murdered 5 people about a month ago) Rapes, Shoot Outs, etc. = The Largest Open Air Prison in America and First in our Nation in COP Killings (like SGT McDonald)!. We have 1/6th the population of New York City, but 6 Times the crime...why? State Parolees. Well over 9,000 Murderers, Drug Dealers, Rapists prowling, unsupervised since 2003. The State's Attorney General (Corrupt Corbett), the State Legislature, Mayor, and City Council have all been notified in writing, with evidence and have done NOTHING.. . Folks...even if we fix the Courts, Bail, Witness Intimidation and Guns and the DA’s Office...if we don't stop "The Rendell Murders"...we "ain't fix'n not'n"! See you at the bottom of the Fox Hole! Oh, and would the last tax paying citizen escaping "Kiladelphia", please turn out the lights :-)
    — John Law
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 10:13 AM, 09/10/2010
    Should the attorney general of Pennsylvania not be held accountable for some of this? I realize he is running for governor but he is already under federal investigation and I don't think he should be let off on this. They should have made sure his court case went through before the election as well but it looks like that isn't happening. Something smells bad here and I wish the GOP would have thought a little more before endorsing the rino for governor. I happen to know that in a local prison in our area, the inmates are charged HUGE amounts for items such as a bar of soap, a stick of deodorant, a cheap pair of sneakers or most ashamedly, a Bible. The inmates are not being punished in these cases. Their family members are. So where is the money being spent? Makes a person wonder.
    — momofguys


3 comments
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