1. Department of Corrections
Presentation for
House Appropriations Committee
January 29, 2018
Harold W. Clarke, Director

2. Governor’s Introduced Budget Operational Funding FY2019 and FY2020

3. SUMMARY OF INTRODUCED BUDGET ACTION IMPACTING DOC’S OPERATING BUDGET
Offender Healthcare
$17.8M in FY2019 and $24.2M in FY2020
Seriously Mentally Ill (SMI) Initiative
$600K/15 FTE in FY2019 and $2.3M/36 FTE in FY2020.
Medical/Mental Health Staff to enhance female bed capacity
$235K per year for 3 FTE

4. Probation and Parole Officer Caseload
SUMMARY OF INTRODUCED BUDGET ACTION IMPACTING DOC’S OPERATING BUDGET (Continued)
Probation and Parole Officer Caseload
$541K/17 FTE in FY2019 and $1.8M/35 FTE in FY2020
Community Corrections Alternative Program (CCAP)
$439K in both FY2019 and FY2020
Board of Corrections Position Review of Deaths in Jail (DOC provides Administrative Support to the Board of Corrections)
The Governor’s Introduced Budget has provided $75K/1 FTE in FY2019 and $100K/1 FTE in FY2020.
This is in addition to $100K/1 FTE provided last legislative session in Chapter 836.

5. Employee Compensation

6. Monthly Turnover Report
DOC has made efforts over many years to recruit and retain Correctional Officers within the Agency.
For the first quarter of FY 2018, 565 applicants were hired as Correctional Officers.
For the first quarter of FY 2018, 510 Correctional Officers separated from DOC.

7. DOC Officer Salaries Starting Salary = $30,484
Correctional Officer/Senior
Starting Salary = $30,484
Average Salary = $35,393
Corrections Officers have the opportunity to seek promotion through the security ranks (Sergeant, Lieutenant, Captain, Major) however, their salary as a Corrections Officer is the basis for calculating all future salary adjustments.

8. Challenges in Retention Created by Low Compensation
Assuming a DOC employee is the sole income provider for a family of four then 1,164 current employees would be eligible for SNAP/food stamps based on the employee’s current compensation.
The group would include 698 correctional officers.
The group would also include DOC employees in 33 additional position titles including executive secretaries, fiscal technicians, dental assistants, grounds supervisors, personnel assistants, food operations supervisors, time computation specialists, and storekeepers.
This causes employees to seek jobs offering higher levels of compensation with other employers.

9. Competition for Corrections Officers
Regional Jails provide higher starting salaries, comparable benefits and are usually sufficiently staffed. DOC Officers are DCJS certified which is often a preferred qualification for Regional Jail Officers.

10. Regional Jail Minimum Salaries compared with DOC
DOC Minimum Starting Salary - $30,484
Location
Minimum Starting Salary
Lags by
Region
Alleghany Regional Jail
$32,629
-$2,145
West
New River Valley Regional Jail
$32,250
 -$1,766
Middle River Regional Jail
$34,400
-$3,916
Piedmont Regional Jail
$31,629
-$1,145 
Central
Albemarle- Charlottesville Jail
$34,009
-$3,525
Central Virginia Regional Jail
$36,650
-$6,166
Northern Neck Regional Jail
$33,687
-$3,203
East
Virginia Peninsula Regional Jail
-$1,145
Southside Regional Jail
Prince William Adult Detention
$48,256
-$17,772
Northern

11. Other Law Enforcement and State Agencies
DOC Minimum Starting Salary - $30,484
Location
Minimum Starting Salary
Difference/Lag
Roanoke County
$36,504
-$6,020
Albemarle County
$38,727
-$8,243
Richmond City
$35,000
-$4,516
Suffolk
$40,328
-$9,844
Chesapeake County
$44,289
-$13,805
Stafford
$43,014
-$12,530
Department of Juvenile Justice
$33,598
-$3,114
Virginia State Police
$44,290
-$9,806

12. Corrections Officer Turnover During Probationary Period 2014 - 2017
YEAR
GAINS
LOSSES
+ / -
LOSS DURING PROBATION
(FIRST 12 MONTHS)
PROBATION LOSS PERCENTAGE
2017
1,630
1,403
+ 227
350
24.9%
2016
1,587
1,367
+ 220
450
32.9%
2015
1,333
1,562
- 229
226
14.5%
2014
848
1,138
- 290
228
20.0%
TOTALS:
5,398
5,470
-72
1,254
22.9%
AVERAGES:
1,349.5
1,367.5
-18
313.5

13. DOC Probation Officer Salaries
Starting Salary = $36,731
Average Salary = $41,722
Turnover rate - increased from 9.85% in June 2015 to 14.35% in November 2017.
Community Corrections caseloads has increased 15.8% from June 2013 to Dec Staffing levels supervising these cases has only increased 5% during this same time period.

14. Key Unfunded Operating Budget Requirements

15. Key Unfunded Operating Budget Requirements
DOC is required to maintain some level of vacancies to manage costs
Ongoing unfunded requirements include:
Information Technology
Utilities, Gasoline, Leases, etc.
Maintenance/Equipment necessary to maintain aging infrastructure

16. Required Solution – Turnover and Vacancy
DOC Required Turnover and Vacancy (T/V) Rates
2.5% - Security Staff
3.3% - Probation Staff/Other Non-security Staff
9.78% - Education Staff
These vacancy rates equates to approximately 350 positions

17. Additional Vacancies Requirements
As of December 2017, there were 736 vacant correctional officer positions across DOC.
To stay within base operating budget resources requires holding open approximately 350 FTE.
The remaining variance is necessary to absorb unfunded staff overtime resulting from increased turnover and vacancies as well as staffing requirements not currently supported by funding for security post audits (i.e. medical transportation).

18. Offender Reentry and Recidivism Reduction

19. Recidivism
At 22.4%, Virginia has the lowest three-year re-incarceration rate among the forty-five states that report this rate for felons
Virginia’s leading rate is attributable to the effective Re-Entry Programming and treatment offered by VADOC during an offender’s incarceration and its effective supervision in the community after release

20. Factors Impacting Recidivism
Incarceration Location and Mental Health Impairment
Offenders incarcerated in VADOC Facilities receive re-entry programming tailored to address the offenders’ criminogenic risks and needs. Offenders who spent a portion of their incarceration in a VADOC Facility recidivated at lower rates than offenders who spent their entire incarceration in a local/regional jail
Offenders with mental health impairment recidivated at substantially higher rates than offenders with no known mental health impairment
Offenders with mental health impairment who spent their entire incarceration in a local/regional jail were re-incarcerated at more than twice the rate of mentally impaired offenders who were in VADOC facilities
 Three Year Re-Incarceration Rates
 Overall (n=12,045)
Local/Regional Jail* (n=4,793)
VADOC Facilities** (n=7,252)
22.4%
25.5%
20.3%
Mentally Impaired Offenders
29.3%
51.8%
24.5%
No Known Mental Health Impairment
20.7%
23.0%
18.8%
* Offenders spent entire sentence in a local/regional jail
** Offenders spent a portion of their sentence in a VADOC facility

21. Recidivism
Since 2010 DOC has established many business practices with a greater focus on risk reduction and long term public safety.
Evidence based practices across prisons and community corrections systems.
An actuarial risk and needs assessment is conducted on all offenders under institutional or community supervision so that individual deficits contributing to crime and criminal behavior can be addressed through programming.

22. Recidivism
Intensive Reentry programs have been implemented at 16 medium security prison facilities.
Offenders are transferred to the program closest to their release location 12 months before release.
Programming includes:
Evidence based cognitive-community peer model of operation
Intensive and moderate need substance abuse treatment
Workforce development
Family seminars
Support from Reentry Probation Officers
Life Skills
Job fairs
DMV identification cards.

23. Recidivism
Reentry programs have been implemented at all security levels and adapted to operations of those facilities.
A reentry program at Red Onion State prison ensures offenders assigned to the highest security level are able to function without restraints prior to release.
Correctional Officers have been trained as Treatment Officers, able to deliver programming to offenders while also providing supervision.

24. Recidivism Education: DOC operates accredited schools
Adult basic education (GED)
Career and technical education
Apprenticeship programs
DOC received the Southern Legislative STAR award for being the first state to have 5 career and technical education programs approved by the American Council on Education to receive college credits.
DOC partners with 2 community colleges to provide pilot Pell grants to offenders studying to earn a college degree.

25. Recidivism
DOC has included trade certifications within prison work programs:
ServSafe national restaurant credential for offenders working in food service
Wastewater treatment plant certification
Agribusiness certification training
Beef cattle vet certificate
Dairy plant operation certification
Commercial driver’s license
OSHA
Vocational training & MORE

26. Recidivism
Community Corrections treatment provider contracts have been restructured to require delivery of evidence based practices.
Mental health specialist positions were provided by the General Assembly effective July 1, 2016 after data was presented showing that 25% of DOC recidivists had mental health issues.
Provide support, monitoring and service referral to probationers in need when CSBs have long waiting lists or refuse to provide services.

27. Recidivism
Effective May 1, 2017 DOC has transformed the detention and diversion centers to Community Corrections Alternative Programs (CCAP) which operate programming based on evidence based practices
In response to the opiate epidemic intensive drug treatment is provided at one CCAP site. A budget request to expand this treatment is currently before the general assembly
Collaborations with faith based partners, non-profit organizations and local and state agencies have been significantly increased to assist with reentry housing, training, mentoring and veterans services.