Department of Corrections State Parole Board
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FISCAL YEAR 2021-2022 ANALYSIS OF THE NEW JERSEY BUDGET DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS STATE PAROLE BOARD Prepared by the NNewew JerseyJersey LLegislatureegislature OOfficeffice ooff LLEGISLATIVEEGISLATIVE SERVICESSERVICES May 2021 NNEWEW JJERSEYERSEY SSTATETATE LLEGISLATUREEGISLATURE SENATE BUDGET AND APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE Paul A. Sarlo (D), 36th District (Parts of Bergen and Passaic), Chair Sandra B. Cunningham (D), 31st District (Part of Hudson), Vice-Chair Dawn Marie Addiego (D), 8th District (Parts of Atlantic, Burlington and Camden) Nilsa Cruz-Perez (D), 5th District (Parts of Camden and Gloucester) Patrick J. Diegnan, Jr. (D), 18th District (Part of Middlesex) Linda R. Greenstein (D), 14th District (Parts of Mercer and Middlesex) Declan J. O’Scanlon, Jr. (R), 13th District (Part of Monmouth) Steven V. Oroho (R), 24th District (All of Sussex, and parts of Morris and Warren) M. Teresa Ruiz (D), 29th District (Part of Essex) Troy Singleton (D), 7th District (Part of Burlington) Michael L. Testa, Jr. (R), 1st District (All of Cape May, parts of Atlantic and Cumberland) Samuel D. Thompson (R), 12th District (Parts of Burlington, Middlesex, Monmouth and Ocean) GENERAL ASSEMBLY BUDGET COMMITTEE Eliana Pintor Marin (D), 29th District (Part of Essex), Chair John J. Burzichelli (D), 3rd District (All of Salem, parts of Cumberland and Gloucester), Vice-Chair Daniel R. Benson (D), 14th District (Parts of Mercer and Middlesex) Robert D. Clifton (R), 12th District (Parts of Burlington, Middlesex, Monmouth and Ocean) Serena DiMaso (R), 13th District (Part of Monmouth) Gordon M. Johnson (D), 37th District (Part of Bergen) John F. McKeon (D), 27th District (Parts of Essex and Morris) Nancy F. Muñoz (R), 21st District (Parts of Morris, Somerset and Union) Carol A. Murphy (D), 7th District (Part of Burlington) Verlina Reynolds-Jackson (D), 15th District (Parts of Hunterdon and Mercer) William W. Spearman (D), 5th District (Parts of Camden and Gloucester) Benjie E. Wimberly (D), 35th District (Parts of Bergen and Passaic) Harold J. “Hal” Wirths (R), 24th District (All of Sussex, and parts of Morris and Warren) OFFICE OF LEGISLATIVE SERVICES Thomas Koenig, Legislative Budget and Finance Offi cer Vacant, Assistant Legislative Budget and Finance Offi cer Marvin W. Jiggetts, Director, Central Staff Patricia K. Nagle, Section Chief, Judiciary Section This report was prepared by the Judiciary Section of the Offi ce of Legislative Services under the direction of the Legislative Budget and Finance Offi cer. The primary author was Anuja Pande Joshi. Questions or comments may be directed to the OLS Judiciary Section (Tel: 609-847-3865) or the Legislative Budget and Finance Offi ce (Tel: 609-847-3105). DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS AND STATE PAROLE BOARD C-4, C-10, C-16 to C-17, Budget Pages....... D-67 to D-85, G-1 to G-2 The data presented in this Office of Legislative Services Budget Analysis reflect 12-month fiscal years beginning on July 1 and ending on June 30 of the subsequent year. Fiscal Summary ($000) Adjusted Percentage Expended Appropriation Recommended Change FY 2020 FY 2021 FY 2022 2021-22 State Budgeted $1,002,374 $1,088,858 $1,084,654 (0.4%) Federal Funds 139,833 17,797 18,239 2.5% Other 49,288 47,576 43,032 (9.6%) Grand Total $1,191,495 $1,154,231 $1,145,925 (0.7%) Personnel Summary - Positions By Funding Source Percentage Actual Revised Funded Change FY 2020 FY 2021 FY 2022 2021-22 State 8,196 7,724 7,821 1.3% Federal 18 19 22 15.8% Other 174 167 195 16.8% Total Positions 8,388 7,910 8,038 1.6% FY 2020 (as of December) and revised FY 2021 (as of January) personnel data reflect actual payroll counts. FY 2022 data reflect the number of positions funded. Link to Website: http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/legislativepub/finance.asp Department of Corrections and State Parole Board FY 2021-2022 Highlights The data presented in this Office of Legislative Services Budget Analysis reflect 12-month fiscal years beginning on July 1 and ending on June 30 of the subsequent year. • The Department of Corrections’ and the State Parole Board’s combined recommended FY 2022 State appropriations total $1.085 billion, which is about $4.2 million or 0.4 percent less than the FY 2021 adjusted appropriation of $1.089 billion. DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS • According to the Department of Corrections, as of December 31, 2020, there were 13,390 State-sentenced inmates housed in State and county correctional facilities and private contracted residential facilities (halfway houses). Compared to the same date a year prior, the total was down by 7,377 inmates or 35.5 percent fewer inmates. The abrupt one-year changes are primarily attributable to policy responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. Count of State-Sentenced Inmates Housed by Type of Facility Setting Dec. 2019 Dec. 2020 Change Change (%) State Adult Prisons 16,074 10,749 (5,325) -33.1% State Youth Facilities 2,189 1,321 (868) -39.7% County Jails 110 751 641 582.7% Reentry (Essex - Staying Connected) 117 0 (117) -100.0% Halfway Houses 2,277 569 (1,708) -75.0% TOTAL 20,767 13,390 (7,377) -35.5% • The FY 2022 budget recommendation for State prison facilities totals $768.1 million, a decrease of $11.6 million or 1.5 percent below the FY 2021 adjusted appropriation of $779.7 million. The decrease is primarily attributable to $14.0 million in reduced salaries and wages appropriations from the planned closure of the William H. Fauver Youth Correctional Facility (formerly known as Mountainview Youth Correctional Facility) in the first quarter of calendar year 2022. However, if actual savings from depopulating the facility were to be less than $14.0 million, proposed language would grant supplemental appropriation authority to backfill the shortfall in savings. • The FY 2022 Governor’s Budget shows a sharp drop in the average daily population of Department of Corrections facilities, as displayed in the table on the following page. Although the long-term national trend of declining prison populations contributed to this outcome, the steep decrease in the last two years predominantly is a function of early release initiatives, notably the Earn Your Way Out Act and COVID-19-related early release programs. 2 Department of Corrections and State Parole Board FY 2021-2022 Highlights (Cont’d) • The FY 2022 Governor’s Budget recommends a new $5.0 million appropriation for improving the internet infrastructure for inmates so that they have enhanced access to education, employment, and legal materials. • A new $2.0 million appropriation is proposed for information technology modernization, security improvements and enhancements in adult correctional facilities. • The FY 2022 Governor’s Budget newly includes $1.3 million for consulting services to rectify operations at the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women. The appropriation responds to the April 2020 report by the United States Department of Justice, which had found that conditions at the women’s prison “violate the Eighth Amendment of the United States Constitution due to the sexual abuse of prisoners by the facility’s staff ….” • The Governor recommends resuming the appropriation of State funds, at $3.7 million, in FY 2022 for Hepatitis C Treatment of Offenders with Substance Use Disorder Diagnosis. In FY 2021, some $22.3 million in prior State funds appropriations for opioid epidemic- related initiatives across several departments was shifted to federal resources. • The Governor proposes newly diverting $1.1 million in dedicated, off-budget Clean Energy Fund balances to the department for the purchase of biodegradable food service products for prison cafeterias. The diversion is prompted by a recent enactment that prohibits the use of plastic straws and polystyrene foam food service products. • The Governor recommends a new $3.0 million appropriation for the Release Support Partnership Program. The sum would be used for the New Jersey Locally Empowered, Accountable, and Determined (NJ LEAD) grants program that would fund non-profit organizations that facilitate prisoner re-entry into society. • The Governor proposes raising the appropriation for the Essex County Re-Entry Program, "Staying Connected," from $4.5 million in FY 2021 to the pre-pandemic level of $6.0 3 Department of Corrections and State Parole Board FY 2021-2022 Highlights (Cont’d) million in FY 2022. Cost reductions in FY 2021 were made possible by the temporary halt of State inmate placements in the program owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. • The $4.2 million supplemental appropriation in FY 2021 for the purchase of services for inmates incarcerated in county penal facilities is not recommended to be renewed in the upcoming fiscal year. The department suspended the transfer of State-sentenced inmates from county jails to State prisons during the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in a steep rise in the number of State-sentenced inmates housed in county jails. In addition to the $4.2 million supplemental appropriation, the State also uses $15.2 million of its federal Coronavirus Relief Fund allocation to offset the resulting cost increase in FY 2021. • At $48.9 million, the FY 2022 recommended appropriation for the Purchase of Community Services is $9.2 million or 15.8 percent below the adjusted appropriation of $58.1 million for FY 2021. This reduction primarily reflects a substantial decline in the number of inmates housed in residential community-based release programs since FY 2020 as a result of new early release programs, COVID-19-related capacity restrictions at halfway houses and limitations on transfers thereto. • The Department of Corrections has received $260.0 million out of the State’s flexible $2.4 billion Coronavirus Relief Fund allocation under the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act of 2020.