An Audit Report on the Department of Criminal Justice's Oversight of Selected Providers That Deliver Residential Services and Substance Abuse Treatment Programs
March 2010
Report Number 10-025
Overall Conclusion
The Department of Criminal Justice (Department) has assigned its Private Facilities Contract Monitoring and Oversight Division (Division) the responsibility for assessing the contract compliance of its private facility providers (providers) that deliver residential services and substance abuse treatment programs through the operation of secure correctional facilities, halfway houses, work release programs, and substance abuse treatment programs. The Division has established contract administration and monitoring processes to ensure that:
- The services delivered by providers comply with contract requirements.
- Criminal history checks are performed on providers' employees and subcontract workers.
- The Department's payments to providers are accurately calculated and processed in a timely manner.
However, the Department should address weaknesses identified in its contracts with providers that, if corrected, would allow its contract monitors to provide greater assurances that providers are delivering quality services and achieving desired results. Specifically, the Department's contracts with providers do not consistently include the contract requirements necessary to assess the quality of the services its providers deliver. Auditors reviewed 16 of the Department's contracts with providers and found:
- The Department did not consistently include in its contracts performance standards to help ensure that the Department can hold its providers accountable for unacceptable performance or contract non-compliance. Although the Department included requirements in its contracts that define the services that must be delivered to ensure the health, safety, and well-being of its offenders, it did not consistently define the performance standards that would be used to evaluate the quality of the services delivered by providers.
- The Department did not consistently include financial reporting requirements in its contracts. Although the Department included financial reporting requirements in seven contracts with providers that operated substance abuse treatment programs, it did not include financial reporting requirements in seven contracts with providers that operated secured correctional facilities or in two contracts with providers that operate halfway houses.
In addition, the Department allowed three providers that operated a certain type of substance abuse treatment program to conduct their own criminal history checks of employees and subcontract workers, even though the Division conducts criminal history checks for employees and subcontract workers of all other providers.
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