Audit: Changes needed to strengthen oversight of work release program
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BATON ROUGE- The Louisiana Legislative Auditor released a new audit that slams the Department of Public Safety and Corrections' Transitional Work Program.
The program, also known as work release, is run by local sheriffs and private companies.
According to the audit, the program saved the state an estimated $12.1 million in 2015. However, it rarely reached capacity which ended up losing the state $7 million in additional potential savings. DPSC also failed to ensure that providers deducted mandatory obligations that were owed by offenders in the program, including $5 million owed to victims and $29 million in supervision fees owed to the department.
The new report also state that overseers often misplaced offenders when they were transferred between work release facilities. There were 254 escapes from work release programs during 2014 and 2015.