YELLOW SHEET Office of the State Auditor of Missouri Claire McCaskill

Report No. 2004-96

December 22, 2004

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

The Algoa Correctional Center (ACC) opened in 1932.  The facility is located on 388 acres in Jefferson City, Missouri, and is a minimum security facility.  As of June 30, 2004, this facility housed 1,218 male offenders.

The ACC operates a canteen for the offenders' benefit.  Our review noted that canteen committee minutes did not record details of votes cast prior to April 2004.  In addition, some committee members were not allowed to vote.

Documentation of monthly food inventory counts is not adequate and random counts are not being performed monthly.  In addition, some food service sanitation inspections are not being performed as frequently as policy requires.

Vending machine commissions totaled over $50,000 during the two years ended June 30, 2004.  Although the vending contract indicates that commissions are to be computed as a percentage of total gross sales, the ACC has no procedures to ensure that vending machine gross sales are accurate.  Additionally, the ACC is not always receiving commission checks within the timeframe required by the vending contract, and the business office did not maintain vending commission statements for 6 of 24 months reviewed.

Proper approval was not documented for some expenditures.  Twenty-three percent of the tested expenditures were not supported by a purchase requisition.  In addition, we noted that 11 percent of tested expenditures were supported by an unsigned purchase requisition.

The ACC appears to be underutilizing their state-owned vehicles.   Five of the 12 vehicles used to transport offenders were driven less than 15,000 miles during the year ended June 30, 2004.  One maintenance vehicle, used solely for the removal of snow, was only driven 263 miles and incurred maintenance costs exceeding $2,500 during fiscal year 2004.  Additionally, ACC has four vehicles to transport supplies and orders received to the proper location within the facility.  These vehicles were driven an average of 4,384 miles during fiscal year 2004.  It appears the ACC management should evaluate the use of each vehicle and consider reducing the size of its fleet.

The ACC is working toward or has already implemented many of the report's recommendations.

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