Prison chief revamps employee funds, staff changes wind down
http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=@@2006603171030
By BILL KACZOR
Associated Press Writer
Last modified: March 17. 2006 6:32PM

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Closing out another week of firings and demotions, Florida's new prison chief said Friday that more than 50 employee club funds around the state will be revamped to make sure inmates do not help pay for them and that money is not misspent.

Department of Corrections Secretary James McDonough said the personnel purge, which has included a deputy assistant secretary, four prison wardens, three assistants and two regional directors, is nearing an end.

"I'd like to think there will be no more serious infractions," McDonough said in an interview.

Gov. Jeb Bush named McDonough, a retired Army officer, to head the department last month after forcing his predecessor, James Crosby, to resign in the midst of continuing investigations into possible criminal activity among prison employees. Crosby has denied any wrongdoing.

Shortly after his appointment McDonough froze the employee club funds because they lacked departmental oversight. He was unable to determine how much money they had - although at least one contained up to $50,000 - where it was coming from or how it was being spent.

"Ostensibly, they look out for the morale of people who work in the system and their families," McDonough said. "I wasn't reassured they were doing that in a fair way."

He was worried some of the money was being spent "for the care and feeding of athletes, who happened to work for the department, and perhaps not all of them were working for the department but had some bogus status."

Allegations are swirling around the department of a steroid-selling ring involving guards and at least one person hired for a phantom job to bolster a staff softball team. McDonough has disciplined some employees for participating in a pair of softball brawls at a departmental tournament in Jacksonville and a banquet in Tallahassee.

"I'm talking about trips around the state and hotel room overnights and rented limousines and things like that," McDonough said, but he added that he couldn't say for sure because of the oversight deficiencies.

"The funds were raised also in some cases, I believe, in inappropriate ways," he said.

Employee canteens are a leading income source, but McDonough said he couldn't be sure that inmate contributions also were being used. Again, he said, he couldn't say that happened because of the lax oversight.

McDonough said he has accepted recommendations from a committee he appointed that will provide oversight, including audits, and establish rules to prevent corruption and ensure fair treatment and openness.

McDonough said a small percentage of each employee club fund will go into a central fund to help pay for the oversight.

He also appeared briefly before the House Criminal Justice Appropriations Committee to assure lawmakers the department's contracting procedures are being revised "in a systematic and transparent way" and that "the public safety is secure."

"We will own up to what's not going right," he said, "and we will fix it."

Interim Director James McDonough