YELLOW SHEET Office of the State Auditor of Missouri Claire McCaskill

January 06, 2003

Report No. 2003-02

The following problems were discovered as a result of an audit conducted by our office of the Department of Corrections, Women's Eastern Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center.

The Women's Eastern Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center (WERDCC) has the state's only reception and orientation (R&O) unit to receive and evaluate incoming female offenders.� This unit is designed to hold a maximum of 100 offenders.� During fiscal years 2000 and 2001, the population of this unit has approached 200 offenders.� This increased population required the facility to make additional accommodations while these offenders waited to be transferred to general population housing.

Because of the significant growth in the number of women offenders held, the Department of Corrections (DOC) increased the authorized capacity of the WERDCC from the original� design capacity of 1,460 offenders to 1,588 offenders.� The total population of WERDCC continuously exceeded the then authorized capacity of 1,588 from April 18, 2002 to June 30, 2002.� However, on July 1, 2002, the DOC added another 64 beds by placing a fifth bed in the rooms in another general housing unit, bringing the capacity to 1,652.� Efforts by the DOC to handle the increasing offender population have had positive results.

The DOC reported the most recent 4-year population growth trend has been an increase of one woman offender every 4 days.� That growth rate would require an additional 91 beds during fiscal year 2003.� However, the actual increase in fiscal year 2002 totaled nearly one every two days or 172 offenders.� The DOC should continue to develop short and long range plans to address the expected growth in the population of women offenders.

In another finding the audit noted that since opening in January 1998, the WERDCC has utilized the same private vendor to provide and service vending machines at the facility.� During fiscal years 2000 and 2001, vending machine commissions totaled $50,600, and we estimated gross sales exceeded $500,000.� The WERDCC business office did not retain any documentation that competitive bids for vending services had ever been solicited and there was no written contract with the vendor providing the services.� Additionally, the WERDCC has no procedures to ensure the commissions paid by the vendor were calculated accurately or were appropriately based on actual vending sales.

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