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Legislative audit finds DOC misspent more than $50K from the inmate welfare fund – Daily Montanan [1]

['Keith Schubert', 'More From Author', '- June']

Date: 2022-06-28  

The Montana Department of Corrections misspent more than $50,000 of its inmate welfare fund, according to a new performance audit report presented to the Legislative Audit Committee on Tuesday.

The objective of the audit was to determine whether the department administers the fund according to state law and department policy. And for the most part, the department did.

However, the audit found the DOC made some inappropriate and questionable expenses, which it largely attributed to poor training and misunderstanding of policies. It made three recommendations as a result, and the DOC concurred with all of them.

The total amount misspent was $51,297, according to the audit, which reviewed 141 of 3,566 expenses from the fund from 2019 to 2021.

“IWF funds are intended to be used for the collective benefit of the inmates,” the report reads. It continues, “when items are purchased inappropriately using the IWF rather than other funding sources, less money is available in the IWF for purchasing items that benefit the inmates … This leads to equity issues across the state’s secure facilities.”

Performance audits are conducted at the request of the Legislative Audit Committee — a bicameral and bipartisan committee within the Montana Legislature; it consists of six members of the Senate and six members of the House of Representatives.

“While most IWF purchases we reviewed were appropriate, we determined some IWF in our sample were inappropriate or questionable,” the report reads.

Among the questionable expenses were items the audit said should be handled by the state, including $9,450 in costs on items for indigent inmates who cannot afford to purchase things like hygiene or legal supplies. However, the department told auditors that the number could be closer to $28,000 annually across all facilities.

“We believe items provided to indigent inmates, items like basic hygiene supplies and supplies for legal communication, fall under the state’s responsibility and were not appropriate IWF expenses,” the report reads.

Another questionable expense that could be charged to the state was $12,000 for 13 computers and printers for inmates to access department policy and do legal research. The audit said it is “well established” that adequate access to the courts for inmates is the state’s responsibility.

Examples of that inappropriate IWF expenses that occurred because of clerical errors or staff turnover included:

A chaplain membership renewal fee – $75

One washing machine and three dryers – $1,1992

Hotel room for staff transporting an offender – $107

A plane ticket for an extradition from California – $823

The audit made three recommendations to the DOC to shore up the IWF expensing issues: add clarity on what items are reasonable expenses, remove items for indigent inmates from allowable IWF expenses and reflect current practice and expectations regarding the processing of requests for funds.

In the report, the DOC concurred with all recommendations and said it would take steps to clarify policy and procedures. Additionally, the DOC said it is not currently funded for providing items to indigent inmates but will ask for more money in the upcoming legislative session.

DOC Director Brian Gootkin said even if the Legislature does not fund the indigent kits, it will not continue charging them to the IWF.

“If it isn’t funded through the Legislature, then we have to re-evaluate and look at our own budget,” he said at Tuesday’s committee meeting.

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[1] Url: https://dailymontanan.com/2022/06/28/legislative-audit-finds-doc-misspent-more-than-50k-from-the-inmate-welfare-fund/

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