Prison Audit Shows Chronic Underfunding

An outside audit of the Oklahoma prison system shows what corrections officials have said for years: the system is badly underfunded.

The audit, released in January, found the prison system to be underfunded and understaffed. The findings confirmed years of complaints by Department of Corrections officials.

Oklahoma State Treasurer Scott Meacham told the Tulsa World last month that the prison problem "is being driven by policies such as th 85 percent rule, not necessarily by crime rates."

The 85 percent rule mandates that offenders who commit certain types of crimes serve 85 percent of their sentences, a policy that keeps the prisons overcrowded.

The audit also showed that the DOC is cost-efficient, but has limited opportunities for additional savings.

DOC officials will ask the Oklahom legislature for a $28 million supplemental appropriation to finish this fiscal year, the World reported.

Scott Barger of the Oklahoma Public Employees Association told the newspaper that his organization feels vindicted by the audit.

"We've been calling on the state Legislature to provide additional funding for the Department of Corrections for 10 years now," Barger said.