CA Corrections Wastes $1.08 Billion of Stimulus

CALIFORNIA STATE AUDITOR finds CDCR laid off 3655 state prison guards just days before receiving Stimulus funds and paying out $450 million in wages, then reported 18,229 jobs “retained” as it paid out the balance of $1.08 billion in Stimulus to CDCR.

According to CDCR records, at most 5000 jobs were retained at a cost of $360,000 each.  What appears to have actually happened is Corrections paid 18,229 prison guards $59,000 each without the guards missing a day of work and no job being created.

The state now pays $48,563 a year/$133 per day to keep each prisoner while it contracts out the same service for $23,000 a year, or $63 per day to Arizona prison facilities.

This is just the tip of the iceberg at Corrections.