DOC Director comments on “dire” situation following another budget cut

OKLAHOMA CITY – Today, after the Oklahoma Board of Corrections monthly meeting in Oklahoma City, Corrections Director Joe M. Allbaugh and Corrections Board Chairman Kevin Gross issued the following statements on the additional four percent budget cut to agencies.

State finance officials told the Associated Press that Oklahoma schools, prisons and other state agencies will have their budgets cut by an additional four percent for the rest of the year.

Those additional cuts are expected to equal close to $235 million.

The total cut to state agencies is now at seven percent, which totals more than $27.5 million to the Oklahoma Department of Corrections.

“With the announcement today of an additional four percent cut to the Department of Corrections, we are looking at more than a $27.5 million reduction,” Allbaugh said. “The situation is becoming dire as we look for more areas to cut. Again, furloughs will be a last resort. However, we have frozen all purchases, aside from the bare essentials like food and clothing and we have stopped hiring in critical positions.

“We are in a dangerous situation and cutting deeper into the agency’s budget is a serious risk to public safety and the safety of the men and women who go to work on the prison yards every day.

“With the current situation at hand, the department will ask for an addition to the supplemental previously requested. We are in the process of drafting a letter that requests a $38.7 million supplemental to get us through the remainder of this fiscal year.”

Corrections Board Chairman Kevin Gross said with a prison population continuing to expand and with more budget cuts on the way, the agency is out of room and will be out of money soon.

“As of today, our state prison population is at 123 percent, we have converted all of the available day rooms, gymnasiums and most places offering treatment to housing areas,” Gross said. “We can’t keep cutting from nothing. We are down to the bare minimum and are setting ourselves up for something to happen”