Optimism felt for future of DepCor
It was over the weekend the public auditor released her audit on the island's only corrections facility.
December 30, 2014Updated: December 31, 2014
By KUAM News
By KUAM News by Krystal Paco
Guam - It was over the weekend the public auditor released her audit on the island's only corrections facility.
And although she gave nothing but poor marks for DepCor, parties are optimistic looking ahead.
No one's arguing with the OPA's audit on the department of corrections - the island's prison is in fact in a poor state.
But until additional appropriations are made and legislation is passed, DepCor can't make any improvements. That's why the Executive Branch has been asked to step in.
"The blue ribbon panel is an opportunity to bring stakeholders together," said director Jose San Agustin.
In his response letter to Public Auditor Doris Flores Brooks, San Agustin called on the governor to form a blue ribbon commission, a group comprised of criminal justice stakeholders to address the prison's growing pains.
Although Senator Brant McCreadie introduced two bills aimed at the design, build, and operation of a new prison facility, both were never heard on session floor. According to Lieutenant Governor Ray Tenorio, the newly formed commission would address this in addition to McCreadie's announcement that he will once again introduce the legislation once inaugurated into the 33rd Guam Legislature.
"I think these are really intelligent things to do - to sit down with the legislature and say look if you don't want to do this, then what do you want to do? The stakeholders in the community - the people who have to deal with the criminal justice system - the judiciary - we all need to sit down and talk about where we're going to go as an island where we're going to go in the next year or in the next ten years," he said.
In her report, the public auditor cites the prison may be operating 192% over capacity. With over 700 prisoners to date, DOC has had to settle with makeshift arrangements to cope with the prisoner influx. They've done so by housing up to four prisoners in one-man cells and converting spaces like the library, classrooms, and offices into an open bay system.
"The reality is that the confines and the bad design if you will because we've done a piece meal approach to increase capacity at the Department of Corrections hasn't been done in a very efficient way," he shared.
Overall, there's plenty of optimism looking ahead as Tenorio says DepCor is making progress in getting out from under a 20-year-old stipulated agreement by addressing its sprinkler system, locking mechanisms, and medical and dental needs.
Should GovGuam invest in a new prison he says GovGuam would solve many facility related issues at a much cheaper price than federal receivership.
"We know that the threat is there we've been doing everything in our power to overcome and accomplish many things we've set out to do to get out from under the stipulated agreement," he said.
But its not enough to make a bigger prison as the prison's overcrowding is a community issue.
"Its been a community problem. The department of corrections is just the recipient of the community problem. When a person doesn't go to school, doesn't get an education and they find out later in life that they can't rely on the society to get them where they want to be, they resort to crime they get arrested they're detained they're incarcerated for the period of time they're sentenced. So they're on the receiving end - the Department of Corrections is not the solution," he said.
Guam - It was over the weekend the public auditor released her audit on the island's only corrections facility.
And although she gave nothing but poor marks for DepCor, parties are optimistic looking ahead.
No one's arguing with the OPA's audit on the department of corrections - the island's prison is in fact in a poor state.
But until additional appropriations are made and legislation is passed, DepCor can't make any improvements. That's why the Executive Branch has been asked to step in.
"The blue ribbon panel is an opportunity to bring stakeholders together," said director Jose San Agustin.
In his response letter to Public Auditor Doris Flores Brooks, San Agustin called on the governor to form a blue ribbon commission, a group comprised of criminal justice stakeholders to address the prison's growing pains.
Although Senator Brant McCreadie introduced two bills aimed at the design, build, and operation of a new prison facility, both were never heard on session floor. According to Lieutenant Governor Ray Tenorio, the newly formed commission would address this in addition to McCreadie's announcement that he will once again introduce the legislation once inaugurated into the 33rd Guam Legislature.
"I think these are really intelligent things to do - to sit down with the legislature and say look if you don't want to do this, then what do you want to do? The stakeholders in the community - the people who have to deal with the criminal justice system - the judiciary - we all need to sit down and talk about where we're going to go as an island where we're going to go in the next year or in the next ten years," he said.
In her report, the public auditor cites the prison may be operating 192% over capacity. With over 700 prisoners to date, DOC has had to settle with makeshift arrangements to cope with the prisoner influx. They've done so by housing up to four prisoners in one-man cells and converting spaces like the library, classrooms, and offices into an open bay system.
"The reality is that the confines and the bad design if you will because we've done a piece meal approach to increase capacity at the Department of Corrections hasn't been done in a very efficient way," he shared.
Overall, there's plenty of optimism looking ahead as Tenorio says DepCor is making progress in getting out from under a 20-year-old stipulated agreement by addressing its sprinkler system, locking mechanisms, and medical and dental needs.
Should GovGuam invest in a new prison he says GovGuam would solve many facility related issues at a much cheaper price than federal receivership.
"We know that the threat is there we've been doing everything in our power to overcome and accomplish many things we've set out to do to get out from under the stipulated agreement," he said.
But its not enough to make a bigger prison as the prison's overcrowding is a community issue.
"Its been a community problem. The department of corrections is just the recipient of the community problem. When a person doesn't go to school, doesn't get an education and they find out later in life that they can't rely on the society to get them where they want to be, they resort to crime they get arrested they're detained they're incarcerated for the period of time they're sentenced. So they're on the receiving end - the Department of Corrections is not the solution," he said.