State government could use more business sense
MANAGEMENT OF PRISON FACILITIES AN EXAMPLE
ONE reason Oklahoma government has such huge financial challenges is because policymakers refuse to make common-sense business decisions. A short-sighted focus, combined with an aversion to tackling politically sensitive issues, causes policymakers to instead punt the ball and abide government waste.
It doesn’t help that Oklahoma’s executive branch has little direct authority in such basic management decisions. Thus, it may be time to reassess the state’s governing structure.
Consider the Department of Corrections. There’s obvious need to modernize Oklahoma’s prison system. Yet few lawmakers have been willing to champion that cause, even though it could save millions.
In this instance, we’re not talking about sentencing reform (although that could reduce costs as well). We’re talking about simple facilities management.
The maximum-security prison in McAlester provides an example. In a recent meeting with The
Oklahoman’s editorial board, DOC Director Joe Allbaugh said, “I’m hoping at some point we’ll turn McAlester into a medium facility, just because the amount of money that we’re spending to maintain it as a max — taxpayer money — is enough to build a new prison by itself. It’s absolutely nuts.”
Basic upkeep and repair of the over-100-year-old McAlester prison are expensive, and the facility’s limitations prevent camera installation. This makes it both expensive and dangerous to staff.
Of the 18 largest prisons in Oklahoma, only eight were designed as prisons. The others include repurposed school buildings and hospitals. Allbaugh said as many as half of those 18 facilities should be closed “just because they cost an exorbitant amount of money to operate.” Many are also in remote areas that make it difficult to attract staff.
The DOC’s budget request includes $848 million in bond financing to build two new prisons. The growth of the inmate population will one day make new facilities a necessity, but new prisons could also allow closure of outdated, excessively expensive facilities. Interest rates are low, as is Oklahoma’s bond indebtedness, so the proposal makes good business sense. Yet its chances of enactment remain slim.
Building prisons isn’t the only option. In recent years Texas has closed four state prisons and may soon close a fifth. Oklahoma could lease those facilities, as well as one in Colorado. Yet political concerns have stopped officials from pursuing that option, so far. The cost of leasing those facilities would be cheaper than building new prisons in Oklahoma, Allbaugh said.
Similar problems are evident in Oklahoma City schools. Officials are just now considering closure and consolidation of 12 district schools with enrollments of 300 students or fewer. The process could save $250,000 for every school closed.
And that plan may not even include facilities like Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School, which was designed to hold around 900 students but serves around 400. For no obvious reason, a proposal to allow KIPP Reach Academy to use part of the available space at MLK remains on high center.
In many cases throughout government, commonsense business practices would increase economies of scale, reduce costs and improve outcomes. But instead of approaching such decisions as viable options, too many government officials treat them as a choice of last resort.