Audit reveals financial inefficiencies within Nebraska corrections
OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) - Nebraska State Auditor Mike Foley is looking to clean up issues in the state corrections department that are raising some serious concerns.
The auditor released a study Monday aimed at clearing up several inefficiencies inside the department. The report, covering the 2023 calendar year, looks at several financial and health related challenges facing the department.
Three areas of concern include excessive inmate medical costs, staff overtime, and improper accounting of inmate trust funds.
The audit outlines that the state spends around $70 million annually on inmate health care. The audit team found that $3.5 million could have been saved by enrolling inmates in Medicaid once they’re incarcerated. That would result in a split of federal and state funding for eligible claims, instead of the state covering all the cost and waiting for any reimbursement.
“That’s over $12,000 per inmate on the average, and some of them have hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical expenses,” said Foley. “We can do better than that. We know that virtually all of those inmates would qualify for Medicaid right away.”
Staff overtime has become a major issue, too. The audit found that the department paid out nearly $180 million in recruiting, retaining and overtime checks — nearly $58 million more than in 2021.
The audit discovered over 250 corrections employees had worked at least 500 hours of overtime in 2023.
“They are paying extraordinary sums of money for prison guards, which they have to do,” Foley said. “What are you going to do? People aren’t banging down the door wanting to be prison guards. That’s a tough job. It’s a dangerous job. But it’s costing the taxpayers a whole lot more money and these guards, some of them like to work, and they’ll work double shifts every single day. They’re working 80 hours a week and they’re walking home at the end of the year with a $200,000 paycheck.”
The audit also found an irregularity where inmates — mainly those on work release — lost well over a combined $500,000 that was deposited in a state bank account and not credited to inmates in a timely fashion. Nine of 109 inmates with the highest uncredited balances didn’t receive money they earned because they have since been released or paroled.
“Some of those inmates were put out on parole without thousands of dollars they rightfully earned,” Foley said. “It’s not fair and it doesn’t speak well of the department when it happens.”
Foley says the Nebraska Department of Corrections could have saved $4 million annually by addressing these and other issues outline in the audit.
Foley is confident that new corrections director Rob Jeffreys will make some necessary changes. He says Jeffreys has already responded to reduce health care costs for inmates.
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