The Alaska Department of Corrections spent over $24 million more than the budget approved by the Legislature last year, with a large portion for staff overtime, raising alarm from lawmakers.
DOC officials submitted their additional budget request to the Legislature earlier this month, part of a routine budget process to account for state spending over the past year — but this year’s price tag for the state’s prison system is at a historic high.
The department requested an additional $20 million for staffing and overtime for last year at the state’s 13 prison and jail facilities.
According to department data provided to the Senate Finance Committee on Thursday, there were 15 correctional staff that earned over $100,000 each in overtime pay last year, on top of salary and benefits.
Two correctional officers at the Anchorage Correctional Complex worked over 2,000 hours in overtime last year — one officer topped the list working 2,770 hours of overtime, to earn a total of over $225,000 last year.
DOC officials did not respond to questions about the department’s policies around overtime and mandatory overtime on Thursday, but a spokesperson said the department’s current vacancy rate is 11.5% statewide. In budget documents, DOC officials noted the additional funding was needed for minimal staffing requirements for “24/7 operational readiness.”
Sen. Bert Stedman, R-Sitka and co-chair of the Senate Finance Committee, said while the rising costs in DOC are well-known, going millions over budget is a problem as lawmakers grapple with declining state oil revenues and a growing list of state funding needs this year.
“Their budget has been growing exponentially,” he said Thursday. “It’s not fair, because those funds that are being channeled in that direction could go elsewhere.”
DOC’s budget has seen increases year-over-year throughout Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s term, unlike other agencies who have sustained cutbacks. Since 2019, the state budget for DOC has increased 46% to over $437 million last year, according to state data.
The $24 million in additional funds the agency requested also included $1.1 million for community residential treatment centers, or halfway houses, and $2.95 million in health care costs last year.
Sen. Mike Cronk, R-Tok, also serves on the Senate Finance Committee and expressed surprise and concern at the overtime hours presented to the committee on Thursday.
“That’s literally 100 hours a week. All year long,” he said, and questioned if people were running up overtime for a short time in order to retire or leave the department. “So it’s very concerning. You know, obviously I don’t blame anybody for it, but we have to figure out why this is happening, and we just have to do better. We have to be more efficient and make sure that we’re doing everything we possibly can to keep costs down.”
Stedman questioned the state’s contracts with the union representing correctional officers, the Alaska Correctional Officers Association, in accounting for the extensive overtime.
“My concern is maybe they ought to haggle a little bit better when they do their labor agreements, because this is definitely not appropriate for the public treasury to put up with, and it’s got to get corrected,” he said.
Representatives with the union did not immediately respond to emailed questions about lawmakers’ concerns on Thursday.
Last year, over 9,800 people entered DOC custody in institutions or on supervised release on probation or parole, according to state data.