By Drew Volturo,
Delaware State News
DOVER - Last fall's opening of the 100-bed Women's Work Release Center at Baylor Women's Correctional Institution near New Castle marked the end of a 10-year construction program that added more than 1,700 beds to Delaware's correctional facilities.
But during hearings for the state budget Wednesday, Commissioner of Corrections Stanley W. Taylor Jr. said Delaware's prisons still are overcrowded and the department hopes to add hundreds of beds to Sussex Correctional Institution near Georgetown.
SCI is one of Delaware's oldest correctional facilities, opening in 1931. After undergoing a major expansion between 1997 and 2000, the all-male population was increased to 1,206, including a 100-bed boot camp.
"We might take down one of the older buildings, which would cost us 350 beds," Mr. Taylor said, "but we would have to have a net gain of 700-800 male beds."
Mr. Taylor said the Department of Correction's prison population is about 300-400 above the agency's post-construction operating capacity of 6,687, and that number is growing by about 300 a year.
DOC's capital budget calls for funding for design master plans for improvements to SCI, Baylor, the Plummer Community Correction Center and Howard R. Young Correctional Institution, both in Wilmington.
However, proposals for each are in the design phase and Mr. Taylor did not have estimates on how much the projects would cost, nor could he confirm exactly what construction would take place at SCI.
Those details, he said, should be finalized in the coming months in conversations with an architect and presented to the state early next year.
DOC's proposed fiscal 2008 operating budget is $247.8 million, an 8.1 percent increase from fiscal 2007.
One of the largest increases is inmate health care, which would climb by $4.05 million.
Mr. Taylor said the rising cost of health care is compounded by the growing prison population, and DOC is hoping to set aside funds for other improvements that could come from federal and agency reviews.
Inmate health care has been a top concern for DOC since last year, when a series of articles appeared in a Wilmington newspaper highlighting inmate suicides and AIDS-related deaths over the last four years, and allegations by inmates of poor medical treatment.
The articles prompted the U.S. Department of Justice to launch an inquiry into prison health care that became a full-blown investigation earlier this year.
Mr. Taylor said the federal government brought in medical and mental health experts to tour DOC facilities.
The federal experts, he said, are working "in a collegiate way" with health care professionals retained by DOC to determine what recommendations will be made at the end of the review.
"We are trying to anticipate some of these recommendations and be prepared (financially) to implement them," said Mr. Taylor, adding that the review process is confidential and he cannot reveal any details.
"I would expect (the recommendations) in the next two to three months. Progress is being made."
Another sore spot for DOC, correction officer vacancies, looks to be improving, according to recent figures.
Mr. Taylor said vacancies in the 1,864-officer force have dropped from 300, or 16 percent, in December 2005, to 243, or 13 percent, as of Wednesday.
Once a correction officer academy class graduates next month, that number could shrink to 225.
"And our next three classes could be 40-plus," Mr. Taylor said. "That's awfully large for correction officers.
"If we get it down to 200 vacancies, we're in the 10 percent range at that point. Once we get it down to 100, we would be in the 5 percent range, which is about a normal vacancy level for any business.
"We are probably a year away from declaring final success with this problem."
DOC's staffing shortages in part prompted many correction officers to protest by boycotting voluntary overtime shifts during the summer of 2004, disrupting court schedules because there weren't officers to transport inmates to and from judicial facilities.
Office of Management and Budget Director Jennifer W. Davis said she was impressed by the progress DOC has made in recent years.
"It's been a long ride, a long journey," Mrs. Davis told Mr. Taylor, "but you continue to amaze me with your commitment to improvement."
Staff writer Drew Volturo can be reached at 741-8296 or dvolturo@newszap.com
