PARENT'S RIGHTS NOW!

Click here to access the "The Real Cost of Prisons" Weblog. Click here to access "The Real Costs of Prisons" website itself. One of the issues that is discussed on the site that was of interest to us was the issue of telephone toll charge price-gouging of inmates. As readers of this BLOG may recall, the exorbitant phone rates imposed upon inmates was one of the ways in which former Dorchester County Sheriff Nash was able to maintain a jail slush fund to spend as he pleased without County Council oversight. As readers may also recall, an audit revealed that this particular slush fund was one of the primary sources of the funds former Dorchester County Chief Jailer Arnold Pastor embezzled.

In the Op-ed Piece "A bad call for prisoners" Ronald Fraser writes:

Prisoners who use the telephone to maintain strong family ties will be better prepared to rebuild their lives upon returning home. Why then does Massachusetts allow price-gouging phone companies to drive prison rates for interstate calls sky high, isolating inmates from the outside world? It is time to end telephone price gouging in prisons. If phone companies in Florida, Michigan, Missouri and New York can provide inmates with reasonable rates, so can Massachusetts.

While we do not know whether newly elected Sheriff L. C. Knight has terminated the practice of price-gouging of prisoners for phone use we do think that what is good for Florida, Michigan, Missouri, and New York is good for South Carolina, particularly as it relates to taking money from incarcerated "Deadbeat Dads" that could and should go to their children.

On a related issue, we call everyone's attention to the article Lots of room to grow. Note that the Charleston County Jail houses almost three times the number of inmates it was built to house--many of them "Deadbeats." We wonder if the fines being imposed against these men are being given to Charleston County Sheriff Al Cannon to offset the cost of housing and feeding them. And if not, we wonder if the Charleston County Family Court Judges would be a little more circumspect in the the number of men sent to jail for failure to pay child support if Sheriff Cannon sent the Family Court a bill each month. But, then again, maybe he makes enough money charging prisoners for phone calls and canteen privileges that this "income" offsets the costs of housing and feeding them.

Greenville Online has reported that “Governor Mark Sanford asked for the resignations Thursday of four of the seven commissioners of the state Department of Disabilities and Special Needs after a critical audit alleged problems, including health and safety gaps, unused funds and a lack of transparency.” According to the article “December’s audit said the agency diverted or left unused $9 million in autism funding, may not have fired some staff members involved in cases of abuse and neglect, didn't follow up on numerous safety and welfare violations and denied commissioners access to public information, among other issues.”

So when are DSS resignations coming?

The Summerville Journal Scene has reported Auditor’s office might get closer look.

We think this is a wise move. Questions remain about why neither the County Treasurer's Office nor the County Auditor's Office were able to discover that the Sheriff's Office was not accounting for the expenditures of its "Prisoner Processing Fee." More important, questions remain about why neither of these agencies realized that fees received from the Jail Telephone Toll Contract were not delivered to the County Treasurer on a monthly basis.

Rumor has it that the Final Audit of the Dorchester County Sheriff's Office will reveal that Three Hundred Eighty Thousand ($380,000) was embezzled.

Imagine if this money had been combined with the money that was either spent on items that were of no benefit to either the prisoners or the taxpayers or of questionable value and instead was used for education, counseling, and job training. Many of the inmates could have been reintegrated into society as productive members rather than as potential repeat offenders. As David Crary of The Associated Press writes "Divorce and out-of-wedlock childbearing cost U.S. taxpayers more than $112 billion a year, according to a study commissioned by four groups advocating more government action to bolster marriages."

Maybe it is time to take a new approach regarding determining what expenditures benefit the prisoners and society as well as who makes that determination. Certainly, "the old way" is not working in Dorchester County.

DORCHESTER COUNTY SHERIFF'S AUDIT REVEALS A HUGE CAN OF WORMS

According to the Post and Courier:

At the very least, we believe that the financial cost of the Audit has proved to be justified and, therefore, should be borne out of Sheriff Nash's discretionary fund accounts rather than from the Dorchester County General Funds. And while it is true that the Dorchester County Auditor and the County Treasurer should have discovered some of the problems--at least with the telephone toll charges--it is also true that even a cursory review of the accounts would have revealed that tens of thousands of dollars were being diverted. Likewise, even a cursory review of the Audit Documents clearly establishes that many of the listed expenditures are inappropriate at best and possibly unlawful.

It is shameful that Sheriff Nash chose to spend the "Prisoner Recreation Funds" to benefit himself and his political and philosophical allies rather than the prisoners. For example, the documents now available to the public indicate that he has increased the salaries of his two "Chaplains" and that he is now paying them collectively Four Thousand Six Hundred and 00/100 ($4600.00) per month. This position is (quite competently) filled by volunteers in Charleston County, so there was no need to raid the Prisoner Recreation Fund to pay these men. And sadly, had almost Two Hundred Thousand and 00/100 ($200,000.00) Dollars not been lost or squandered, the children of the Dorchester County prisoners could have been provided for without having to seek charity from local churches.

Sheriff Nash should be required to tell all the children of the Dorchester County inmates that he has been extorting their parents on the Toll Phone charges and that what was neither stolen nor sent to his private business was used to party down with his friends and supporters. Merry Christmas kids. Ho, ho, ho.

Turning to a related issue, we hope that the Audit will be expanded to determine who benefited from the Seventy-Five Thousand (75,000) hours of "voluntary" labor that is provided each year by Dorchester County inmates. Maybe, if the "Prisoner Recreation Fund" was used to compensate these men rather than for entertaining "foreign dignitaries" they could make some inroads on their fines, their past due child support obligations, and their restitution obligations.

Finally, and also on a related issue, we note that many of the comments to the articles in The Post and Courier are insightful. For example, we have pasted comments from "Slayer" and Lillycollette hereinbelow.

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http://web.charleston.net/news/2007/dec/20/sheriffs_office_audit_outlined25484/#comments

Posted by Slayer on December 20, 2007 at 10:55 p.m.

Final continuation

12. What percentage of time does Nash spend at his Dojo? (That’s his martial arts business in the Oakbrook area of Summerville) Just how many businesses does he operate?

13. Nash has told the media that his department does not pay for the character training he mandates for all of his officers to attend. I direct you to look at the document posted on the Post and Courier’s web site. Did this man of ‘character’ lie to us? That’s the way I read it.

14. Another thing, the Sheriff’s department pays two chaplins, who make more money that a deputy does. While I do not object to having a chapin (this is usually a volunteered position) why are they paid more than the person who puts his life in danger, and why are they given a county car to drive? Again, I would like to know the answer to this.

If you really want to get your blood boiling as to the mismanagement of money by our Sheriff of Character, read the audit documents. The bottom line is that he was at the helm and allowed this mismanagement and theft to occur on his watch. Don’t blame anyone else, Sheriff. The buck stops with you.
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Posted by lillycollette on December 22, 2007 at 3:44 a.m.

When they're through -- Delving for Dollars -- in Dorchester County "maybe" (lol) someone will take that auditing magnifying glass to the Charleston County family court. There's a serious big-time need for a federal forensic audit there too.

WE TOLD YOU SO, WE TOLD YOU SO, WE TOLD YOU SO!

We are not surprised that the audit of the Dorchester County Sheriff's' Office is discovering problems. Nor are we surprised that the Sheriff has been making a killing off of the telephone charges assessed against the inmates. We called attention to this practice over two years ago.