YELLOW SHEET Office of the State Auditor of Missouri Claire McCaskill

Report No. 2000-78
August 23, 2000

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

The Crossroads Correctional Center, which opened in March 1997, is located one-half mile north of Cameron, Missouri and is a maximum security facility. �This facility has a maximum capacity of 1,500 inmates which are housed in six housing units.� The facility is situated on 60 acres, of which, approximately 40 acres lie within the perimeter of the facility.�

The Crossroads Correctional Center (CRCC) maintains an armory of firearms and ammunitions which are accessed via the armory sergeant or shift supervisor at the control center.� To account for the issuance of these firearms and ammunitions, the armory sergeant maintains an armory log which is a written record of routine and emergency distributions of firearms.� A review of the armory log for the periods of January, November, and December 1999 revealed several instances in which issuance information was not properly documented.� Instances of improper documentation included:� indicating the area rather than the individual the firearm was issued to; not indicating the date and time the firearm was checked out and back in; and, not always documenting the individual who issued the firearm.�

In addition, firearm certification cards are not checked prior to issuing firearms to staff.� This is in direct violation of department procedures which state that, prior to being issued a firearm, staff must present a firearms certification card for the firearm being issued.

To properly account for all firearms and ammunitions at any given time, a properly completed armory issuance log should be maintained.� In addition, to enhance the safety and security of all staff and inmates, current firearm certification cards should be requested and reviewed prior to issuing firearms.

In July 1997, the Department of Corrections, Division of Offender Rehabilitative Services entered into a contract with Missouri Western State College to provide adult basic education to CRCC inmates.� Contract expenditures totaled approximately $740,000 and $616,000 for the fiscal years ended June 30, 1999, and 1998, respectively.�

Each month the CRCC receives an invoice accompanied by an itemized listing of all program expenses and a payroll report.� 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 (now exceeding $60,000/month) 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 CRCC 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.�

Our review of the CRCC�s fire safety plan found that it did not outline procedures for conducting monthly fire safety inspections, quarterly evacuation drills, or weekly inspections of detection and warning systems, which are required by department guidelines.� Also, we found that monthly fire safety inspections were not performed from September 1999 through February 2000, and there was no documentation to indicate the CRCC was performing any quarterly evacuation drills.

A comprehensive fire safety plan would help provide CRCC staff with specific guidance on how to better protect employees, inmates, visitors, and prison property in the event of a fire emergency.� In addition, the CRCC needs to immediately implement the performance of monthly fire safety inspections and quarterly evacuation drills as required by department policy.�

Other items noted in the report included:

• Inventories for some food items were overstocked.� No one independent of the food service section verifies the month-end physical inventory counts.� Invoices are not stamped with the conditional acceptance stamp at the time the goods are delivered.
  
• 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.

• Vending machine commissions paid to the facility did not comply with the written agreement, resulting in an approximate underpayment of over $1,600 from March 1997 through February 2000.

• Cell searches within the administrative segregation housing units were not completed as frequently as required by CRCC policy.� In addition, cell search documentation was unclear, making it difficult to determine which cells had or had not been searched.

• Duties related to the purchasing and receiving of raw materials and tools for the furniture factory are not adequately segregated.

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