Importantly, in a year when most of Texas' private prison contracts are up for renewal and costs are likely to increase, "The Department did not maintain documentation to justify its decision to renew provider contracts." That seems like a pretty big deal, especially since TDCJ responded that it agreed with the critique. Specifically,
For the contract renewals for 16 providers that auditors reviewed, the supporting documentation showed that the Department based its contract renewal decisions on management’s review and approval of the requests to renew a contract, and it did not include specific information or factors related to a provider’s contract compliance or performance history. ...And since they didn't gather the information in the first place, now that the contracts are up for renewal there's no way to go back and fill that gap.
The lack of established performance-based criteria in the Department’s contract renewal process increases the risk that the Department may renew a contract with a provider that is operating facilities or programs with a history of poor performance.
It's also not clear, according to the audit, who is overseeing which parts of these contracts at TDCJ and whether their efforts are coordinated well enough:
The Department did not clearly define the roles and responsibilities of its three divisions that oversee providers that operate substance abuse treatment programs.That's too many cooks hovering over the stew pot, none of whom appear to be engaging in data-driven analyses of contract compliance.
Although the [Private Facilities Contract Monitoring and Oversight] Division is recognized by the Department as the contract monitoring entity over substance abuse treatment program providers, the Division’s role is limited to monitoring a provider’s compliance to certain contract requirements. The Rehabilitation Programs Division and the Parole Division are responsible for monitoring the quality of the substance abuse treatment programs. However, the monitoring relationships among the divisions are not defined and documented to ensure that the monitoring activities are efficiently coordinated and communicated among the divisions.
This report provides further fodder for my contention that TDCJ should decline to renew some of these private contracts in light of declining prisoner numbers and the current budget crisis - they're going to cost more and TDCJ apparently doesn't know what they're getting for the money.
Hat tip: Texas Watchdog.
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8 comments:
Grits - can TDCJ provide documentation for the quality of services and performance standards for the prisons they they themselves operate? Not thta two wrongs make a right, but, it's an interesting question.
Having been in this business over the years, both in the public and private sectors, I've observed that TDCJ and TYC both hold private providers to a much higher level of performance than they hold themselves in prisons they operate.
Having completed Security Audits at
private and state facilties I disagree with the first poster.Private facilties have variances and state facilties do not.
a variance is official permission to bypass regulations. And for the "what it's worth" department: mention the variances in your audit report of a private faciltiy and you will never be assigned another one.
Retired 2004
Again, I betcha that somebody's getting a kickback!
Private prisons generate corporate income tax and taxes on dividends. So the federal government benefits from them. Perhaps Obama should include money for private prisons in the next stim bill.
10:54, I addressed that question a little bit during the stimulus debates last year:
"If the feds wants to invest in jobs programs, cops and prisons have a relatively small economic multiplier effect (see this report from the Sentencing Project) while other investments - in education, healthcare, and transportation infrastructure, for example - will give much more job-producing bang for the buck."
9:58, I don't know about "kickbacks," but certainly quite a few TDCJers find themselves working for privates when they leave state employ. So there is sort of a revolving door thing going on, and it's possible contracting decisions are made by administrators with an eye toward their own future employment.
"So there is sort of a revolving door thing going on, and it's possible contracting decisions are made by administrators with an eye toward their own future employment." You're right on target with this comment. Look at the wardens at the privates -- all are drawing a pension from TDCJ! That's a common theme - get your 20 years in and go to work for the privates. When somebody says they're about to retire, the next question they're asked is "are you going to the privates?" with a little ribbing. He (or she) just smiles.
I believe records retention in Huntsville for Audit records is 7 years - so they CAN go back and obtain some type of report on each facility.
Anonymous said...
Private prisons generate corporate income tax and taxes on dividends. So the federal government benefits from them. Perhaps Obama should include money for private prisons in the next stim bill.
3/15/2010 10:54:00 AM
You mean in addition to the billions the feds already pay for private prisons? Something like 98% of all new prison construction at the federal level over the past decade has been private, and of that, most has gone to GEO and CCA (the two biggies). I track all sorts of articles detailing this shady business at: http://whyihatecca.blogspot.com
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