House seeks to close fish hatchery, end job training pact
Back in 2006, the county increased by as much as 68% the price inmates at the House of Correction and County Jail must pay to make collect phone calls from their places of incarceration. The rates rose to $5.55 per 15 minute collect call, up from $3.30. The rate remained at $3.30 for inmates who use debit cards to make their calls.
County officials justified the high rates, in part, because the money would be used to support the fish hatchery at the House.
Fast forward a couple years the House of Correction is proposing to keep the money and kill the fish hatchery. It’s not just the telephone revenue the House wants to use — a small share of electronic surveillance and Huber fees charged to inmates promised to the fish hatchery in 2006 would be moved to support the general House operations. The total the House could divert by closing the fish hatchery is about $188,000.
The House, in another proposed budget cut, is proposing to end a contract for Job Development and Job Readiness with Wisconsin Community Services. The move would save $242,217.
And with less for the inmates to do, the House also is proposing in its 2009 budget request to crowd more of them into fewer dorms to save money. From the budget request:
The House of Correction anticipates operating with five dorms closed for the entire year in 2009 and one additional dorm closed for the final three months of the year when the population has historically declined. The 2008 Adopted Budget anticipated operating with two dorms closed. The closing of three additional dorms in 2009 results in savings of $1,017,965 and is due to the following:
o Increasing the number of beds in dorms from 60 to 64 where possible
o Placing any inmate within one month of release onto home detention
o A 9% decline in bookings over 2007 levels
Finally, in an era of significant food price inflation, the House of Correction is project a decline in per-inmate meal costs from the current level of $1.17.
The House of Correction has been plagued by bad management and operated by an exhausted staff. A federal report released earlier this year said that ”the House of Correction is a seriously troubled institution” with a “bad history and a negative, counter-productive organizational culture.”
The budget does not address those findings or include funding to address them.
County Executive Scott Walker presents his 2009 proposed budget next month.
August 19th, 2008 at 8:59 pm
This is nothing new. The same proposals have been made for the past four, five years. This led to the increased amount of injuries to officers as well as inmates. They were forced to house inmates in the gymnasiums, thereby eliminating another outlet for the prisoners and exasperating the problem.
I remember when I worked their and they privatized the kitchen, the cost per inmate was about 86 cents. And Walker promoted this as a way to save money?