Alaska DOC seeks $523 million in FY27 as committee presses on $10M overtime and staffing gaps

The Alaska Department of Corrections on Thursday told the House Finance Committee it is seeking an amended FY27 budget of just over $523,000,000 and 2,127 permanent full‑time positions to address chronic staffing shortages, rising health‑care costs and aging facilities.

"We are a huge and important piece of the public safety continuum, and we are expensive," Commissioner Jen Winkelman said, describing a population with high levels of trauma, medical and mental‑health needs. "We are managing public safety risk, workforce fatigue risk, and fiscal risk."

Deputy Commissioner April Wilkerson and Kevin Worley, director of Administrative Services, detailed mid‑year FY26 adjustments that shaped the FY27 request: a $6,000,000 reduction tied to an Alaska Correctional Officer Association agreement, $7.5 million related to closing a wing at Spring Creek Correctional Center, cuts affecting regional/community jails and five office assistant positions, and a $2.6 million increase for community residential centers that was partly offset at conference committee. Worley said the department is pursuing a supplemental of roughly $1.1 million to restore some FY26 funding.

Committee members focused on who pays for regional jails and whether costs are being shifted to municipalities. Wilkerson said the department follows an allocation formula and that the state pays a portion while local jurisdictions cover part of the expense; she added that DOC worked with the Alaska Municipal League and local chiefs to standardize allocations and jail budget templates.

Lawmakers also pressed DOC on overtime, which Wilkerson said had totaled "just over about $10,000,000" through January, and on workforce counts. Wilkerson reported approximately 1,000 correctional officers statewide and a department‑wide vacancy rate that rose toward 12% in recent months, leaving more than 100 correctional officer positions open in some units.

Worries about overtime distribution and recruitment resurfaced during questioning. Wilkerson explained that overtime assignments are governed by a contractually negotiated random work‑assignment list (sometimes called the WACL or work assignment list), and the department is required to follow the procedure established in collective‑bargaining agreements.

On larger budget trends, Wilkerson said general‑fund growth for DOC from 2016 to 2027 totals roughly $221 million and is driven by four factors: negotiated collective‑bargaining agreements (about 31% of the growth), fund‑source changes (about 24%), policy/legislative changes (about 34%) and operating costs (about 11%). She told the committee some of that increase represents restored funding that had been previously decremented.

Committee members asked DOC to provide a legislative breakdown showing which bills and policy changes contributed to the growth. Members also raised the possibility of facility consolidations; DOC urged any closure planning be informed by a multi‑stakeholder evaluation that includes local governments and public safety partners because closures have local economic and operational impacts.

DOC officials described several containment efforts including expanded use of telehealth, e‑consults and virtual court appearances where courts will accept video — steps DOC said may reduce transportation costs but are still early in demonstrating savings.

The presentation closed with Commissioner Winkelman emphasizing recruitment and retention as a top priority: "If we can take care of staff, the rest falls into place," she said. The committee did not take any formal action on the FY27 request during the hearing.

The Department of Corrections presentation ran from the start of the meeting through a brief at‑ease at 2:58 p.m.; committee questioning spanned operational, contractual and policy drivers of DOC costs.