Lawmakers press DOC on CRC costs, beds and contracting practices

Legislators at the House Finance Department of Corrections Subcommittee meeting on Feb. 26 pressed DOC officials for clarity about the cost, capacity and contracting differences between community residential centers (CRCs) and regional community jails.

Deputy Commissioner April Wilkerson told the committee that DOC has requested just over $26,000,000 for CRCs and about $8.9 million for the regional community jail program. Wilkerson said CRCs are governed by negotiated, binding contracts (five contracts across seven locations) and include programmatic requirements; CRCs provide just over 400 beds statewide and can house individuals for months to years. By contrast, the regional community jail program has roughly 140 beds statewide and is typically a short-term holding option (often about a week, with a few sites able to hold up to 30 days).

Members raised concerns about negotiation and budget transparency. Representative Hemshutt (name appears variably in the transcript as "Hemschew" / "Hemshoo"; transcript spellings differ) asked why CRC providers receive negotiated increases while community jails appear to receive allocations without negotiation. DOC said it allocates funding to jails based on the appropriation set by the Legislature and negotiates binding contracts with private CRC providers; the department said it has begun updating standards for the jail program and expects revised standards could yield efficiencies and change cost drivers.

Lawmakers also sought a cost-per-bed comparison and asked whether legislative directions were pushing DOC to keep people in more secure—and more expensive—placements. Wilkerson said DOC will provide a cost comparison between CRCs and hard-bed operations and noted placement decisions are driven by classification, statutory responsibilities and an effort to place individuals in the least restrictive setting appropriate to their custody level.

DOC commissioners and directors described program distinctions: CRCs emphasize programming and supervised community integration (work, passes and treatment), whereas community jails function largely as short-term holding cells for lower-term sentences or short detentions. Lawmakers requested DOC provide the negotiation history and the specific budget requests that justify the CRC and jail funding levels.

The committee did not adopt any changes; members asked DOC for more detailed documentation and cost comparisons in advance of the subcommittee closeout meeting.

Next steps: DOC to supply contract negotiation details, cost-per-bed comparisons, and updated jail-standards outcomes to legislative finance.