The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette continues its series on changes in state government with a look at new Dept. of Corrections Commissioner J. David Donahue. Donahue was an import from Kentucky’s prison system.
One of his first cost-cutting actions was to move 600 to 700 inmates who were being held in Kentucky back to Indiana. The inmates had been shipped to Kentucky because decision makers figured the $58 average to house an inmate domestically was more expensive than exporting them to Kentucky at an expense of $45 per day. Donahue, however, figured that the $58 per day could be reduced with more inmates being placed in underused facilities to bring down the average. (For example, there was apparently one facility Donahue visited where 74 staff members were on duty to guard 70 offenders.)
He also outsourced prison food preparation to a private vendor promising to save $11.5 million per year. (Watch the condition of confinement lawsuits roll in alleging either inhumane, unhealthy diet or violations of religious rights because they weren’t receiving food that meets the dietary requirements of whatever religion the offender adopted upon arriving at the jail.)
Donahue is also reducing the number of high-security classifications and increasing the number of minimum-security classifications. (Watch for lawsuits after inmate fights that allege, among other things, deliberate indifference to safety evidenced by the DOC’s misclassification policies.)
Finally, Mr. Donahue is trying to combat recidivism. It looks like about 38% of prisoners released in 2001 are back in prison. “Donahue is beginning to work with local courts and law enforcement officials to ease transition. To do so communities have to beef up the job, housing and transportation opportunities for returning inmates.” That’s probably true, but one big problem with that is the fact that people without convictions are having trouble finding work and making ends meet even when they are working. All things being equal, an employer will presumably want to hire someone without a conviction first. If the government somehow subsidizes or gives the released inmate with some kind of advantage, then it is, in a sense, penalizing the law abiding citizen in favor of the law breaker. Something of a catch-22.
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