Report 2009-107.1 Recommendations

To minimize costs through the use of telemedicine, Health Care Services should review the effectiveness of telemedicine consultations to better understand how to use telemedicine.

To minimize costs through the use of telemedicine, Health Care Services should perform a more comprehensive comparison between the cost of using telemedicine and the cost of traditional consultations, beyond the guarding and transportation costs, so that it can make informed decisions regarding the cost effectiveness of using telemedicine.

To increase the use of the telemedicine system, Health Care Services should continue to move forward on its initiative to expand the use of telemedicine in Corrections' institutions.

To increase the use of the telemedicine system, Health Care Services should continue to implement the recommendations that it has adopted from the consultant's review of telemedicine capabilities.

To increase the use of the telemedicine system, Health Care Services should maintain a focus on developing and improving its computer systems, such as the Health Care Scheduling System, to increase the efficiency of using telemedicine.

To help it assess the effect of policy changes and manage operations in a cost-effective manner, Corrections should do the following:
• Ensure that its new data system will address its current lack of data available for statewide analysis, specifically data related to identifying the custody staffing cost by inmate characteristics such as security level, age, and custody designation.
• If implementation of its new system continues to be delayed, or if Corrections determines that the new system will not effectively replace the current assignment and scheduling systems used by the institutions, it should improve its existing data related to custody staffing levels and use the data to identify the related costs of various inmate populations.

To ensure that overtime hours are accurately reported, Corrections should provide training to its personnel specialists to ensure that they properly classify retroactive overtime salary adjustments according to the Payroll Procedures Manual.

To ensure that the State is maximizing the use of funds spent on incarcerating inmates, Corrections should communicate to the Department of Personnel Administration—which is responsible for negotiating labor agreements with employee bargaining units—the cost of allowing any type of leave to be counted as time worked for the purpose of computing overtime compensation.

To ensure that the State is maximizing the use of funds spent on incarcerating inmates, Corrections should encourage the Department of Personnel Administration to not agree to provisions in bargaining unit agreements that permit any type of leave to be counted as time worked for the purpose of computing overtime compensation.

To more closely align its operations with state law and its own policy, make certain that inmates are provided with an adequate level of supervision, and protect the health and safety of employees and inmates, Corrections should encourage the Department of Personnel Administration to negotiate a reduction in the amount of voluntary overtime a correctional officer is allowed to work in future collective bargaining unit agreements, in order to reduce the likelihood that involuntary overtime will cause them to work more than 80 hours of overtime in total during a month.

To more closely align its operations with state law and its own policy, make certain that inmates are provided with an adequate level of supervision, and protect the health and safety of employees and inmates, Corrections should better ensure that it prevents the instances in which correctional officers work beyond the voluntary overtime limit in a pay period.

To ensure that it is addressing the program needs of its inmate population in the most cost-effective manner, Corrections should develop a staffing plan that allocates teacher and instructor positions at each institution based on the program needs of its inmate population.

To ensure that it can determine whether it is in compliance with state law and can measure the efficacy of its programs in reducing recidivism, Corrections should track, maintain, and use historical program assignment and waiting list data by inmate.

To ensure that staff are aware of the relevant requirements related to prisoner literacy, Corrections should continue its efforts to update its adult education program policies.