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HomeNewsArchivesGovernor’s Budget Proposal Enough for Starters, Prisons Director Says

Governor’s Budget Proposal Enough for Starters, Prisons Director Says





With just a few months before the bureau flies on its own, Corrections officials told senators Monday how they plan to use their fiscal year 2010 budget, comply with the two consent decrees the agency is operating under and look at ways of creating a viable prison industry.

It sounds like quite a mouthful, but prisons director Julius Wilson didn’t really beat around the bush during the Appropriation and Budget Committee meeting. He said the governor’s recommended General Fund budget of $29.2 million for FY 2010 was — in light of the government’s current financial crisis — enough to start with.

Corrections is carrying more than just a few expenses. Senators highlighted $1.5 million in retroactive wages — anniversary pay for fiscal years 2003 to 2005 — owed to Corrections officers that are not included in the budget, and said that a few hundred thousand dollars in back rent and other costs also need to be taken care of. The information has been provided to the Office of Management and Budget, and Corrections is awaiting a response, officials said.

Senators also pointed to the need for more equipment for Corrections, which Wilson said in a recent interview runs the gamut from vests to radios.

Included in the recommended FY 2010 General Fund budget is nearly $12.9 million for personnel services, $4.7 million for associated fringe benefits, $90,000 for capital outlay, $1.7 million for supplies, $7.8 million for other services and charges, and $2 million for utility costs.

To reduce the costs, Sen. Craig W. Barshinger discussed the possibility of charging inmates for certain services, which Wilson said is allowed under the statute that severs Corrections from Justice.

"The creation of a viable prison industry would help," he added. "But overall, prisons are just expensive, and at a certain point, the inmates are not going to be able to afford the cost of their own incarceration. What we have to do is create a product, sell a product and make a profit out of it."

Inmates also have to be given, and will be given, the opportunity to work, added Attorney General Vincent Frazer, whose department currently oversees Corrections.

"We have to get as many inmates working as possible, and if we can do that, and they begin to have productive days, then we can figure out how much to charge for things like toiletries," he said.

Meanwhile, other expenses include the cost of housing mentally ill inmates and transporting prisoners off-island, which amounts to about $35,000 per patient per month. How mentally ill inmates are cared for is the subject of one of the consent decrees that Corrections is operating under, and has one year to come into compliance with.

Right now, new prisoners are given a mental-health assessment when they first come in, which is turned over to a psychologist, Wilson explained. If an alert is raised, the inmate is turned over to a psychiatrist for further evaluation, he said.

There is still a need for additional counselors and therapists at St. Croix’s Golden Grove Correctional Facility, which now includes a wing for mentally ill patients, Wilson said. Attempts are still being made to get a forensic lab on St. Croix, but rehabbing the proposed building in Anna’s Hope is going to cost money, which is now being directed to Golden Grove, he said.

More than a decade ago, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit on behalf of several inmates, charging widespread rights abuses in prisons on St. Thomas. A settlement agreement was reached in 1994, and District Court Judge Stanley Brotman has also given the government a year to come into compliance with its conditions.

Wilson said Monday that Corrections is trying to improve conditions on St. Thomas, has hired a new medical director, is negotiations with a dentist, is retrofitting housing units and is buying more materials for its law library.

But with more inmates coming in every day — an average of 50 per month — the government has to start planning for the construction of new facilities on both islands, he said.

Present during Monday’s meeting were Barshinger and Sens. Carlton "Ital" Dowe, Louis P. Hill, Sammuel Sanes, Patrick Simeon Sprauve and Michael Thurland.

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