UT- (Budget) Cuts may result in reoffenders

10-13-2008 Utah:

Sacrificed: Sex, substance abuse therapies

DRAPER -- In response to the recent state budget crunch, the Department of Corrections did not resort to releasing inmates early.

It did, however, reduce funding to such programs as substance abuse and sex offender and mental health treatment, programs that lower the chances of paroled individuals reoffending and ending up back in prison.

-Notice they talk about folks going back to prison, and not about public safety.

"That's the problem that we're having with everything," said department spokeswoman Angie Welling.

"We know for a fact that programming, treatment and education reduce recidivism, so we do what we have to do ... knowing that, in the long run, it costs taxpayers more."

-Again, no mention of public safety, instead, money....

Welling said that, in advance of a special legislative session at the end of September, the state asked the department to propose cuts that would amount to 3 percent of the department's $384 million budget.

To achieve that, the department had a head start.

Planned construction of a new building has been delayed by Salt Lake City officials leery of approving a 300-bed halfway house for parolees planned for their city.

During the last budget process, the department was given $7.6 million to operate the so-called parole violator center, Welling said.

Headlines in other media suggested lawmakers had "yanked" the funding for the center because of the delay, but Welling said about $5.7 million in operating costs for the center was offered for sacrifice from the department.

The money to build the facility was not cut, she said.

Still, more cuts were needed.

Encouraging eligible administrators to retire provided more savings, Welling said.

"We lost quite a bit of personnel. We ultimately ended up losing 35 full-time positions throughout the department."

Half of those eliminated positions had yet to be filled, Welling said, and positions for corrections officers the department has been trying all year to fill were not cut.

More savings were found by cutting programming.

"We've seen cuts to a number of programming things inside and outside the (prison) facilities," she said.

In Davis, Weber, Salt Lake and Tooele counties, for example, sex offenders on parole with electronic monitoring will now pay a fee, about $30 to $50 a month, Welling said.
-Interesting, they say sex offenders must pay, but thats just to make their budget look good. They have full knowledge that sex offenders cannot find jobs, housing, and other services and without money how do they survive must less pay for GPS units.

That move saved another $200,000 and brought offenders in those counties in line with sex offenders statewide. Offenders in all other counties have had to pay for their ankle monitors all along, Welling said.

Funds for the 2007 Drug Offender Reform Act were not cut, she said. DORA reduces incarceration for some first-time drug offenders and increases state-funded rehab programs at little cost to the user.

"(Cuts to DORA) were discussed, and fortunately, that didn't happen this time," she said.

Other programs received reduced funding, but few programs were eliminated outright, Welling said.

"We offer the same range of programming, but perhaps not as many sessions."

The remaining programs will also be offered in fewer locations.

What that means for a facility like Ogden's Northern Utah Community Correction Center is the elimination of a behavioral therapy program for about 35 lower-functioning offenders per year, as well as a substance abuse and life-skills program offered through NUCCC's day reporting center.

Welling said NUCCC's substance abuse program will be replaced soon with "in-house treatment," but she did not say where the funding would come from for it, nor how the replacement might differ from the original.

NUCCC Director Steve Yeates declined to comment unless he got permission from Welling to do so. He did not get permission.

Welling said no other officials within the Department of Corrections would be available for interviews.

"I am the only person speaking on behalf of the department on this issue," Welling said in an e-mail.

When asked whether the department sought or considered an inmate population reduction to save costs and preserve programming options, Welling said it did not.

And, as she said earlier, cutting programming today may cost taxpayers more in the future.

"If recidivism increases as a result of these offenders not having the tools they need to succeed," Welling said, "they're going to come back to prison, and that always costs more." ..News Source.. by JESSE FRUHWIRTH