Director warns without funding, prison bills will go unpaid

MCLOUD — The Oklahoma Board of Corrections voted Tuesday to ask legislators for nearly $9 million to get through the next three months.

Corrections Director Joe Allbaugh told the board the department has been in the red all year and has a $5.2 million deficit in payroll alone, mainly because of overtime costs.

Allbaugh did not give the five-member board a menu of options for cutbacks if the Legislature doesn’t approve supplemental funding through June 30, the end of the fiscal year.

He told the board he was not planning to make the cuts “on the backs of our employees.”

“We’re stretched thin as it is,’’ Allbaugh said. “It really doesn’t matter what agency in our department — we’re understaffed.”

In a statement after the board voted 5-0 for the request, Allbaugh said “bills will go unpaid” if the money is not provided.

The board held its monthly meeting at the Mabel Bassett Correctional Center, the largest women’s prison in the state.

Oklahoma has the highest incarceration rate in the nation for women and the second highest rate overall. There were 27,105 inmates in state and private facilities on Tuesday, with another 1,128 awaiting transfers from county jails.

Allbaugh assured the board that there was a plan in place if prison guards joined striking teachers on Monday, though he doesn’t expect a walkout. Fewer than 30 employees had requested leave for April 2, the day thousands of teachers and many public employees are expected to march at the state Capitol, he said.

Allbaugh and aides met with the state military department to plan for contingencies and canvassed all the facilities to determine how many correctional officers were taking leave. He said the officers, though underpaid, were dedicated.

Michael W. Roach, chairman of the board, said the officers “are very committed to their positions. They recognize what could occur

in their absence. I am very grateful. I know this board is.”

The corrections department has a budget of nearly $500 million a year, and its projected shortfall is a small percentage. But Allbaugh said the $8.75 million was a necessity.