PRISON SYSTEM MONEY REQUEST DRAWS CRITICISM

Department Seeks Extra $69 Million

SACRAMENTO --California's prison system is asking for another $69
million because of overspending on its budget, fueled in part by
rising overtime costs. Critics, however, consider the request another
example of the Department of Corrections' failure to control runaway
costs -- even as the state faces a record budget deficit that could
spur tax increases and cuts to programs that serve the most needy.

"The Department of Corrections is the most poorly run state agency in
the state of California," said Assemblywoman Sarah Reyes, D-Fresno,
who serves on a subcommittee reviewing the prison budget. "They have
to be willing to solve the problem, not continually come to the well
for more money."

Reyes faulted the department for being unable to accurately tell her
the number of inmates incarcerated in California, failing to develop a
modern information technology system and not filling vacancies,
prompting rising overtime costs.

Department spokesman Russ Heimrich downplayed the request, which is
prompted by officer overtime as well as worker's compensation claims
and hiring temporary employees.

"This happens every year," Heimrich said. "These are payments we
have to make." Heimrich said the department has built-in budget
problems, noting that many overtime costs aren't budgeted.

Wendy Still, the department's budget officer, said steps have been
taken to rein in costs. Among other things, prisons no longer keep a
six-month backlog of food and clothing on hand.

Still said the core problem is that the state fails to adequately fund
operations of a modern prison system with an increasingly violent
population. And she projects that due to labor negotiations salaries
will be rising even more in the coming years.

Each of the last six fiscal years, the agency has overspent its
budget. In 1997-98 the amount was $6.2 million, but it ballooned to at
least $178.6 million last year, according to legislative figures.

The latest request for the money was made in a budget change letter
dated May 14, from the Department of Finance to lawmakers. It comes as
legislators are wrestling with the state's estimated $38.2 billion
shortfall and searching for ways to cut the $5.3 billion prison
spending plan.

In his latest budget proposal for the fiscal year starting July 1,
Gov. Gray Davis has proposed giving prisons a slight increase.

Prison spending has raised eyebrows in great part because the powerful
California Correctional Peace Officers Association, which represents
guards, has been a major campaign contributor to Davis. Last year, the
union negotiated a lucrative contract with the Davis
administration.

Lawmakers are reviewing a variety of suggestions to trim corrections.
Among ideas under consideration are sending fewer non-violent felons
back to prison when they violate parole; delaying the opening of a new
prison at Delano; and boosting the number of cadets who are trained
annually to be guards.

Sen. Jim Brulte, the Republican leader in the upper house, said
corrections is not alone in its spending habits. "The entire
bureaucracy believes it has a blank check to spend what it wants,"
said the Rancho Cucamonga lawmaker.

Brulte reported that Senate Republicans on Wednesday met with
representatives of several Wall Street firms who are urging the state
to enact a budget by the July 1 deadline. As part of his plan, Davis
has proposed borrowing $10.7 billion to be paid off with a one-half
cent increase in the sales tax.

Brulte said the executives want a dedicated source of money to repay
any loans but expressed mixed views about whether California needs to
hike taxes.

The message he said was "we'd like to see state revenues and
expenditures balance."