By Joe Rogalsky,
Delaware State News
DOVER - Delaware needs to embark on another round of prison expansion, Commissioner of Correction Stanley W. Taylor said Tuesday.
The state had a prison population of 6,789 as of Monday, Mr. Taylor said during his agency's annual hearing with the state budget office, but the system is designed to hold just 6,687.
After leveling off or even declining, the prison population is on pace to grow by 115 inmates a year in the future, Mr. Taylor said.
The growth would occur at the Sussex Correctional Institution in Georgetown, the Delores J. Baylor Women's Correctional Institution in Wilmington and the Plummer Community Correction Center in Wilmington.
"We need to be planning for expansion in anticipation of the growth continuing," Mr. Taylor said.
The state's last round of prison construction began in 1996 and ended earlier this year when the 100-bed New Castle Women's Work Release Center opened.
During the expansion, the state spent more than $185 million to add 2,500 beds to its prison system.
Two areas at the Delaware Correctional Center near Smyrna remain closed, Mr. Taylor said, but even if opened would not solve the need for more bed space.
The areas - a high-security unit at DCC and an infirmary that was renovated into cells - are closed to inmates but are being used for training new correctional officers, he said.
Overall, Mr. Taylor presented a $225.6 million request for the fiscal 2007 operating budget.
The request is $15 million, or 7.1 percent more, than the agency's allocation this year.
The department's fiscal 2006 budget increased about 7 percent over last year's budget.
Much of the increase, about $10.5 million, is earmarked to pay for salary increases the legislature approved in June and pay for enhancements that could be approved for fiscal 2007.
"Our commitment to public safety is the driving force behind this budget request," Mr. Taylor said.
"Our mission is to incapacitate the incarcerated offender, provide quality rehabilitative programs and health care and provide quality supervision to those offenders living in the community."
Besides a growing inmate population, the Department of Correction also is grappling with a staffing shortage and questions about the quality of the prison health care system.
Mr. Taylor asked for an additional $2.2 million for prisoner health care in fiscal 2007.
Of the additional money, $1.3 million would cover increases in the state's contract with St. Louis-based Correctional Medical Services, which provides care to inmates. The state is paying CMS $25.9 million this year.
The DOC proposal also includes funding to contract with experts to provide advice to the agency when state officials disagree with CMS on medical issues.
Last year, much of Mr. Taylor's budget presentation focused on solving a correctional officer shortage plaguing the prisons.
His presentation Tuesday included funding to maintain the 5 percent raises officers received Jan. 1.
The state's budget office will begin reviewing officer pay rates again this month and will recommend another hike that will take effect Jan. 1, 2006.
Correctional officers also receive the across-the-board raises most state employees receive every July 1.
Recruitment efforts have picked up in the past year but the state is still losing 12 or 13 officers a month, Mr. Taylor said.
When the 50 recruits in training become full-fledged correctional officers by the end of the year, he added, the agency expects to have its highest amount of officers on duty since June 2004.
The agency currently has 298 of its 1,861 correctional officer positions vacant.
In September 2004, the staffing level was higher, with only 258 open jobs. In December, however, the agency had 306 open correctional officer positions.
David B. Knight, senior vice president of the correctional officers' union, said DOC is doing well to entice recruits into the agency but not doing enough to keep experienced officers.
He was encouraged that DOC's budget proposal stated the agency intended to continue implementing recommendations from a 2003 task force studying officers' pay issues, which include automatic increases and other rewards for longevity.
"The starting wage is not too bad right now," Mr. Knight said after the hearing.
"We are bringing in officers because of the increases, but the officers who have been there for a while are not seeing their pay go up quickly."
Gov. Ruth Ann Minner and the Office of Management and Budget will review the requests state agencies present this month and compile the governor's budget proposal for fiscal 2007, which will be released in late January.
After the governor makes her recommendations, the legislature's Joint Finance Committee will hold hearings and craft the final version of the fiscal 2007 operating budget, which the General Assembly will approve in late June.
"If they need more money for health care, I would like to know some details of what we are getting for our $25 million," said Sen. James T. Vaughn, D-Clayton, a JFC member and former correction commissioner.
"We ought to be getting good care for that amount of money."
Staff writer Joe Rogalsky can be reached at 741-8226 or jrogalsky@newszap.com
