YELLOW SHEET Office of the State Auditor of Missouri Claire McCaskill

Report No. 2000-77
August 23, 2000

The following problems were discovered as a result of a review conducted by our office of the Department of Corrections, Western Reception and Diagnostic Correctional Center.

The Western Reception and Diagnostic Correctional Center was originally established as a satellite facility of the Western Missouri Correctional Center in 1993 and occupied one building on the grounds of the St. Joseph State Hospital.  The intent of the satellite facility was for the inmates to help the community with the massive devastation to the local area from the 1993 floods.  In 1994, the Park Building Treatment Center became operational and the decision was made by the Department of Corrections to take over the old hospital facilities once the hospital had moved to its new site.  The final phase of construction was completed in September 1999.  The newly named Western Reception and Diagnostic Correctional Center is the Department of Corrections’ reception center for the western region of the state.  Newly convicted offenders or those returned from probation and parole supervision, will be housed there while they undergo evaluation and classification to determine their permanent institutional assignments.  The Western Reception and Diagnostic Correctional Center will continue to house general population offenders and offenders participating in substance abuse prevention programs.  The total capacity for all classifications of offenders is 1,880. 

The Western Reception and Diagnostic Correctional Center (WRDCC) maintains an armory for firearms, ammunition, chemical agents, restraints, and miscellaneous items which are accessed through the armory sergeant, armory officer, or shift supervisor at the control center. 

·        To account for the issuance of these firearms and ammunitions, an armory log is maintained which is a written record of routine and emergency distributions of firearms.  A review of the armory log for June 1999 revealed that firearms were recorded as being issued to a particular post rather than to an individual.  In addition, the individual actually issued the firearm was not required to sign the log.  The armory log should provide a record of who has responsibility for each weapon issued. 

·        Monthly physical inventories of the armory are performed by the same armory officer that has custody of inventory.  This practice is in violation of department procedures which state that the physical inventory must be verified by an institutional employee whose duties do not include the maintenance of that particular inventory. 

·        The armory’s perpetual inventory records have not been updated since June 1999.  As a result, a comparison of physical inventory counts to balances recorded in the perpetual records in not possible, and the effectiveness of the periodic physical inventory procedures is minimized.  Department procedures require the armory to maintain a perpetual inventory of stock. 

In January 1999, the Department of Corrections, Division of Offender Rehabilitative Services entered into a contract with Missouri Western State College to provide adult basic education and diagnostic services to WRDCC.  Contract expenditures totaled $229,331 for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1999.  

Each month the WRDCC receives an invoice accompanied by an itemized listing of all program expenses with a payroll report attached.  Supporting documentation is not routinely provided for the non-payroll expense entries, such as travel costs, educational and data processing supplies, telephone, etc.  As a result, significant payments are being approved without obtaining supporting documentation.  

A careful review of supporting documentation is necessary, at least on a periodic basis, to substantiate the validity, propriety, and reasonableness of amounts billed by the college.  Because WRDCC personnel are more familiar with the college personnel and services being provided, it appears essential that these detailed comparisons of billings to supporting documentation be performed at the correctional center prior to transmitting the billing to the Department of Corrections – Central Office for payment.  

Other items noted in the report included: 

·        Vending machine commissions paid to the facility did not comply with the written agreement resulting in an approximate underpayment of $774 from October 1998 to December 1999. 

·        There is no independent verification of physical counts of food inventory items.  Food requisitions are not being properly signed by the food service manager.  U.S. Department of Agriculture foods are not being properly reported. 

·        Perpetual inventory records are not maintained for all canteen items.  Month-end physical inventory counts of canteen food and personal items are not compared to any records and no one independent of the canteen verifies the inventory counts. 

·        Some inmate monies found during the intake process are not being recorded on the reception center receipts log.

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