---------- DOCUMENT HEADER ----------
---------- DOCUMENT HEADER ----------
ARIZONA STATE LEGISLATURE
Forty-seventh Legislature – Second Regular Session
JOINT SELECT COMMITTEE ON CORRECTIONS
Minutes of Meeting
House Hearing Room 3 -- 9:00 a.m.
Chairman Groe called the meeting to order at 9:02 a.m. and attendance was noted by the secretary.
|
Senator Robert Burns |
Representative Trish Groe, Chairman |
|
Senator Jack Harper |
Representative Judy Burges |
|
Nicole Davis |
Representative Jerry Weiers |
|
William Bell (in place of Alan Ecker) |
Dora Schriro |
|
Senator Robert Cannell |
Representative Meg Burton Cahill |
|
Senator Jorge Garcia |
Representative Steve Gallardo |
|
Senator Tim Bee |
|
Kim Cordes-Sween, Joint Legislative Budget Committee
Tom Dorn, Management & Training Corporation
Wayne Calabrese, The GEO Group
Mark Brnovich, Corrections Corporation of America
Opening Remarks:
Chairman Groe welcomed the Committee members and guests. She stated that the meeting will last one hour because of the Joint Legislative Budget Committee meeting scheduled for 10:00 a.m. today.
Update by Joint Legislative Budget Committee on Status of Corrections’ Bed Plan and Per Capita Cost Reports
Kim Cordes-Sween, Joint Legislative Budget Committee (JLBC), addressed the committee to update the members on the Arizona Department of Corrections’ (DOC) Bed Plan and Per Capita Cost Reports. She explained that DOC typically develops short and long range plans for ensuring that there is enough bed capacity to handle inmate population growth and addressing the following topics:
The last formal bed plan was submitted by DOC in September of 2003 for the FY2005 budget. In the meantime, private and provisional beds have been used to accommodate inmate population growth. In its most recent budget, DOC did identify that it would be interested in expanding public prison facilities by an additional 3,000 beds by the end of 2009. However, this was not a formal bed plan.
Ms. Cordes-Sween explained that the reason there has not been a formal bed plan these last few years is because DOC is revamping the statewide classification system, which will affect the way existing facilities are used, particularly in terms of security level and type of beds.
She further explained that two requests for proposals (RFP) for prison beds have been issued in the past two months:
Senator Burns asked for clarification of the first RFP; Ms. Cordes-Sween reiterated the details.
Chairman Groe asked if the 3,000 bed RFP has been approved by JLBC; Ms. Cordes-Sween replied that the item was considered last month and will be discussed in today’s meeting.
Ms. Cordes-Sween then updated the members on the DOC’s Per Capita Cost Report, which is an annual report that includes the average daily cost incurred from operating public and private prison facilities, in addition to daily cost for community supervision and administrative expenses. All prison facilities are separately identified in this report.
She explained that the Per Capita Cost Report was originally used to compare costs among various state prisons, but as private prisons were added the Report has begun to serve as a starting point for comparing public versus private prison costs. The Report cannot be used as an “apples to apples” comparison since certain administrative costs are not included in the public daily costs as they are in the private.
She stated that the last Report published was for FY2004, and was published in April of 2006. The FY2007 General Appropriations Act includes a footnote that requires the Department to submit a FY2005 Per Capita Cost Report by July of 2006 and a FY2006 Per Capita Cost Report by February of 2007. The FY2005 Report has not yet been submitted, but a consulting firm has been contracted to complete both FY2005 and FY2006 Reports.
Chairman Groe inquired if DOC had informed her when the FY2005 Report would be completed; Ms. Cordes-Sween replied that work is progressing, but that the DOC would have more information on that.
Ms. Schriro stated that the FY2005 Report would be completed in January of 2007, and the FY2006 Report in February of 2007. She explained that the comparisons are now equalized, and will include direct and indirect costs. The comparisons are now complete and accurate by gender and by custody level.
Presentation by Current Arizona Private Prison Providers
Tom Dorn, Management & Training Corporation, addressed the Committee. He explained that Management & Training Corporation (MTC) does business in four states (AZ, TX, NM, and OH) and was the first private facility in Arizona thirteen years ago, the Marana Correctional Facility (Attachment 1).
Senator Burns inquired if he was familiar with the Maximus study, which is ongoing at this time, and if it will provide an “apples to apples” comparison; Mr. Dorn replied that he has heard of the study. Senator Burns then asked if Maximus has worked with MTC in the course of conducting the study; Mr. Dorn replied that he was not aware whether they have.
Ms. Schriro informed the committee that the Maximus study is pulling hard data from state spending materials and that the providers have copies of the reports.
Senator Burns commented that, while the private costs are captured by these payments, the public costs are more difficult to identify, as are the indirect costs at the state level.
Mr. Dorn clarified that Mr. Washington from MTC has been in touch with Director Schriro.
Ms. Davis inquired of Ms. Schriro which assumptions would be used by Maximus to determine the state’s indirect costs, and whether they would be part of the report.
At this point Chairman Groe asked Ms. Schriro to make her presentation for DOC.
Ms. Schriro informed the members of the credentials of Mr. Nolan of Maximus, who has a national reputation and is using well-established methodology.
She then addressed the bed report and the necessity for the RFP for 5,700 expansion and provisional beds. The RFP will address contracts that will expire this year, contract cancellations in 2006, and expansion due to new construction.
Chairman Groe asked if she had anything to add to the JLBC testimony in regards to generating the next bed plan; Ms. Schriro replied that, in addition to revising the classification system to include four custody levels for both genders, they are currently revising their bed forecasting methodology to anticipate a substantial increase in the prison population (due to technical revocations as Class 6 felonies, the diminishing impact of Prop 200 from several years ago, and the changes in plea policies).
Chairman Groe then asked, if DOC bids on the 3,000 bed DOA RFP, will DOC know where new facilities should best be located and which facilities are overcrowded; Ms. Schriro replied that the operational and current capacities are published as a daily count sheet on the DOC website. She then discussed specific facility situations. She commented that she cannot imagine that private companies would bid on expanding a private facility on state land.
Chairman Groe asked if she would have to approve the expansions of private facilities; Ms. Schriro replied that she did not know the answer but would check on the procedure.
Senator Burns inquired about a recent death at one of the facilities and the delay in reporting the incident. He asked if the reclassification system may have had some impact on the incident and if that would place liability on the state. Ms. Schriro replied that current policy states that any death in a facility initiates a preliminary criminal investigation by the Inspector General’s office. Although the Inspector General works for the DOC, the County Attorney’s office typically delegates the responsibility, but can take over an investigation at any point. In this specific case, the County Attorney’s office was notified and the preliminary criminal investigation concluded that the death was the result of blunt force trauma. The criminal investigation then continued in full, and concurrently an administrative investigation was started by the Attorney General’s office.
Ms. Schriro explained that an additional quality assurance procedure has recently been added wherein any death is reviewed by an interdisciplinary body. She stressed that there were no delays in reporting, that the County Attorney, Medical Examiner, next of kin, and Governor’s Office were contacted immediately. Media advisories were released. She explained other aspects of the procedure.
Ms. Schriro stated that she did not believe that the classification system had any impact on the situation. She stated that DOC has five theories that they are pursuing; she said that there is clearly one direct cause for the death (the suspect whose name has been turned over to the County Attorney’s office) but that other activities may have contributed in some measure.
Chairman Groe asked if this quality assurance procedure was documented; Ms. Schriro replied that all steps are prescribed in department orders. Chairman Groe then asked who is tasked with making the phone calls; Ms. Schriro replied that significant incident reports (SIR) define specific procedures and a series of notifications by the DOC’s Communication Center which depend upon the type of incident.
Chairman Groe asked who makes the calls, and how do they know who to call; Ms. Schriro replied that the Communications Center makes most of the notifications. Anything dealing with the criminal aspects are notifications that the investigators make themselves. Chairman Groe asked how the Legislature is notified; Ms. Schriro replied that in the past the Legislature was not on the notification list, as there is no state statute directing notification. Chairman Groe asked if the Governor’s office is supposed to notify the Legislature; Ms. Schriro did not know, but offered to notify the Legislators if they so desire.
Chairman Groe asked about changes made recently to the procedures; Ms. Schriro replied that the following persons are notified: medical examiner, County Attorney, Governor’s Office, and next of kin. The Legislature can be notified, a media advisory will be released, and the inmate face sheet will be updated.
Chairman Groe asked if she thought that overcrowding and lack of beds was a factor in this incident; Ms. Schriro replied that she did not think so, although the system is operating above its capacity, is understaffed, and the probability of an untoward act is increased.
Chairman Groe asked if it is often that DOC has a non-violent offender sharing a same cell with a violent offender; Ms. Schriro replied that in the old classification system that was far more likely to have occurred.
Senator Harper asked who was notified in the Governor’s Office; Ms. Schriro replied that it was Mr. Burke, her liaison.
Ms. Davis asked about the population growth rate between FY2005 and FY2006; Ms. Schriro said that the Legislature appropriated at about 100 per month, but the actual growth was about 180 per month, is now over 225 a month, and frequently exceeds 250 a month.
Ms. Davis inquired about the cancelled contracts; Ms. Schriro explained that one will expire in June and two in Texas were cancelled.
Ms. Schriro referred to information that she distributed to the members (Attachment 2), explaining the efforts of the DOC to notify the Legislature and others on a routine basis, which include a website with monthly statistics.
Wayne Calabrese, The GEO Group, addressed the committee to describe his company, which provides contract private prison facilities to Arizona (Attachment 3). The GEO Group provides services to federal, state, and local governments. It is a publicly-held company, is totally independent, and has three facilities in Arizona: Phoenix West, Florence West, and Central Arizona in Florence.
Senator Burns asked if he had seen the Maximus comparison report; Mr. Calabrese replied that he was aware of the report, but not with the details of the basis of comparison. He added that there can be no true “apples to apples” comparison between private and public facilities.
Mark Brnovich, Corrections Corporation of America, explained that his company was founded in 1993 and is the nation’s largest private prison provider, with 65 facilities in 19 states and the District of Columbia and 70,000 inmates. They currently house 7,000 inmates in Arizona - most are Federal prisoners - and will manage the new Saguaro facility in Pinal County. They also house 1,433 Arizona inmates in an Oklahoma facility.
Without objection, the meeting adjourned at 10:02 a.m.
___________________________________
Jane Dooley, Committee Secretary
December 18, 2006
(Original minutes, attachments and tape on file in the Chief Clerk’s Office)
---------- DOCUMENT FOOTER ---------
JOINT SELECT COMMITTEE ON CORRECTIONS
2
December 18, 2006
---------- DOCUMENT FOOTER ---------