Dept. Of Corrections Seeking $1.3 Billion Budget Increase

[Conan71]

Perhaps if we spent more on education we could spend less on the DOC.

Oklahoma Board of Corrections to request $1.65 billion

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — The Oklahoma Board of Corrections has voted to request nearly $1.65 billion for the Department of Corrections next fiscal year — an increase of $1.16 billion over its request for the current year.

The department received just less than $485 million for the current year as the Legislature struggled to fill a $1.3 billion budget hole.

Department of Corrections Director Joe Allbaugh said in a news release Thursday that the "aggressive request" is needed to repair critical problems and invest in the department's long-term future.

The request includes $10.3 million in salaries that includes pay raises and nearly $849 million for two new medium-security prisons with 2,000 beds each.

Allbaugh says the department has been "largely ignored" for more than 30 years and that Oklahoma taxpayers need to understand "the picture" of state prisons.

[patric]

Perhaps if we spent more on education we could spend less on the DOC.

Or at the very least, not warehouse people for felonies that should never have been felonies.

https://www.okjusticereform.org/

[cannon_fodder]

I'd be against such a huge budget for prisons, but I sadly do not doubt it is needed. We have been "tough on crime" and it has cost us a lost of money, but we have deferred as much of the cost as possible - be it in short staffing prisons, cutting programs, overcrowding facilities, or simply not performing maintenance and repairs. I'm sure there is some padding in the budget request, but overall it is mostly funds that are actually needed if DOC wants to do its job up to the standards they are dictated.

Another good reason to find a better solution to our social issues (some people need help, some people need a slap in the face to get back on track, some people need to be locked up for a long time).

[Townsend]

Oklahoma can cut the education budget to $577 million and transfer the savings over to the prison system.

[RecycleMichael]

Can't we combine them?

Think multi-use facilities.

If we had kids on one floor and convicts on another, maybe the kids would be scared straight.

[Townsend]

DOC Officially Asks for $1.5 Billion

http://publicradiotulsa.org/post/doc-officially-asks-15-billion

The head of the Oklahoma Department of Corrections goes before a house-and-senate committee to justify his request for a $1.5 billion budget. That is over a billion dollars more than the current budget.

Director Joe Allbaugh says Oklahoma must have new prisons because we are out of space. He says the prison system is at 112% of capacity. He says if you take away the rented beds, that number goes to 151%.                 

He says many employees have not had a raise in over a decade. Allbaugh says guards can make more money doing just about anything rather than working for the DOC.

[patric]

DOC Officially Asks for $1.5 Billion

http://publicradiotulsa.org/post/doc-officially-asks-15-billion

Didnt they just get another 5% raise last year?
Maybe if we werent housing out-of-state prisoners we wouldnt need to build more for-profit prisons.