Prison officials cut length of socks, not sentences, to save money

Unable to cut sentences of prisonoers to save money, the state Department of Corrections has begun cutting their socks instead.

Acting on an idea from employees, the department is supplying offenders with shorter socks and expects to save $22,000-a-year as result.

Other moves announced today include switching from paper bags to reusable bags in the commissaries for offenders. This will save an estimated $220,000 a year.

And another idea already put in place is offenders will no longer be shuttled to funerals or death-bed visits unless their families pay for the escort and travel costs ahead of time. That will save an estimated $43,000 each year

Here’s the press release.

Shorter Socks and Fewer Trashcan Liners: DOC Implements Cost-Saving Ideas from Its Staff

OLYMPIA – The Department of Corrections expects to save $22,000 each year by purchasing shorter socks for offenders. It expects to save $220,000 each year by reducing the number of trashcan liners it purchases by 40 percent. The agency is implementing those cost-saving ideas and others recommended by its employees.

“It doesn’t surprise me that the best cost-saving ideas have come from our staff,” Secretary Eldon Vail said. “The men and women work on the ground level at prisons and field offices are typically better able to see what ideas will work.”

Another cost-saving suggestion was to do away with juice fountains in prisons and provide offenders with juice packets instead. That will save an estimated $120,000 each year. The agency is also re-issuing clothes and underwear issued to offenders.

Due to the state’s declining revenue the Department of Corrections must reduce its across-the-board spending by nearly $53 million between now and June 30, 2011, which is the end of the two-year budget cycle. The agency continues to incarcerate more than 16,000 offenders in prisons and supervises more than 19,000 offenders in communities.

DOC staff members so far have submitted more than 1,500 cost-saving suggestions. One suggestion that was recently implemented was no more funeral and death-bed visits for offenders in prisons unless the offenders’ families pay for the escort and travel costs. That will save an estimated $43,000 each year. The prisons division expects to save money by using reusable bags at offender stores instead of paper ones.

“We’re looking at everything we purchase to figure out if we can do without it,” Vail said. “And the things that we do purchase, we’re figuring out if they can be re-used. That cuts down on our purchasing costs and also reduces landfill waste.”