As NC budget writers get down to brass tacks, a crisis in corrections looms large
NC Department of Adult Correction Secretary Leslie Dismukes tells members of the Senate Judiciary Committee the state is now faced with 40% vacancy rate for correctional officers. (Photo: NCGA video stream)
When North Carolina House and Senate budget writers begin hammering out a compromise between their two proposed budgets, one of the more pressing problems will be how to address the crisis in North Carolina's prisons.
During a confirmation hearing this month, Department of Adult Correction Secretary Leslie Dismukes told lawmakers the state is now faced with 40% vacancy rate for correctional officers.
Three prisons currently have a vacancy rate over 60%, and at another 10 the vacancy rate hovers at over 50%.
'The General Assembly has been our partner and has dedicated resources to help us address this issue. But I'll be honest, it's still a struggle,' Dismukes told members of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
The Department of Adult Correction (DAC) has almost 32,000 people in physical custody and another 77,000 under community supervision. State employees in the department are working 12-hour shifts and mandatory overtime to meet minimum staffing levels in the prisons.
Flanked by law enforcement officers, Dismukes said she has workers who are dealing with exhaustion and child care needs, that many cannot afford.
'What is the department doing now to recruit new employees and what do you think needs to be changed to do to increase your recruitment?' Sen. Warren Daniel (R-Burke, McDowell, Buncombe) asked.
Dismukes said recent raises have been helpful, but North Carolina lags its neighbors.
'We are for correctional officers in the bottom three in the country, and certainly in all of our surrounding states, we are at lowest,' she said.
DAC urgently needs to keep qualified staff on board to train the new staff that are being recruited.
'Right now, we're in great danger of losing a lot of our talented staff who know how to do the job because we cannot pay them equivalent to other states or other industries within North Carolina,' Dismukes added.
Rep. Phil Rubin (D-Wake) agrees with that concern.
'If you want to be a prison guard, you've got a lot of reasons not to do it here,' Rubin said in an interview this week with NC Newsline.
Rubin said the House budget proposal offers a meager 2.5% raise for state workers and proposes getting rid of many positions that have been vacant for months. For DAC that would mean the loss of 400 correctional officer positions that are unfilled.
'We can't fill the spots. So, then we get rid of them, and we have too few prison guards, which endangers the ones that are there, and it drives them out of the job because their job just got harder and worse and they're still not getting paid better,' Rubin explained. 'Meanwhile, we're hearing about doubling the premiums and the deductibles on the State Health Plan.'
Beyond just a modest pay increase, the state needs to make a commitment to ensuring the correction officers have a safe workplace.
NCDAC has recorded more than $1 billion in deferred maintenance for the aging infrastructure in prisons.
'It's $1.4 billion of maintenance that needs to be done right now,' Dismukes stressed. 'Our fire suppression systems are outdated or completely inoperable in 23 prisons and several prisons don't have air conditioning.'
Correction officials say it's not a matter of comfort. The lack of cooling systems in close conditions in an institutional setting can increase the risk of violence. A 2015 Columbia Law School report noted that the rise in older, sicker prisoners may also be more vulnerable to the heat.
North Carolina has been working on a long-term project to cool its prisons since 2021. As of last summer, DAC was installing air conditioning systems in buildings containing the remaining one-third of the beds its staff supervises.
Indoor environmental conditions aside, the agency learned during Hurricane Helene that it does not have the redundancies and system resilience to meet natural disasters. The storm forced the transfer of nearly 2,200 prisoners from five facilities in the western part of the state. Civil rights groups warned at the time that the emergency transfers exacerbated overcrowded conditions and the workload on correctional officers.
'We must make critical decisions about our prison locations to maximize staffing and return on investment for our infrastructure repairs,' Dismukes told senators.
Another ever-present worry for DAC is medical costs.
In fiscal year 2024, the department spent $400 million on health care. This fiscal year, that number is projected to rise to $425 million.
'These costs, we cannot avoid given the aging prison population and our duty of care to them,' warned Dismukes. 'We must take a look at our overall medical infrastructure and build the best prison medical system we can and create savings wherever possible.'
Getting medical personnel to work in the correction system remains a challenge. The persistent and high vacancy rates for nurses have resulted in the use of contract or traveling nurses, a more expensive option for the state.
Dismukes is expected to win confirmation from the Judiciary Committee at its next meeting.
Sen. Danny Britt (R-Robeson) said the secretary deserves credit for her willingness to take on the challenge.
'It is probably one of the most challenging budget areas that we have to deal with, both on scale and funding,' he acknowledged.
Britt said the Senate has done its best with salaries, earmarking an additional 5.25% raise for correctional officers combined with step increases. Probation and parole officers could get an additional 2% raise in the Senate budget.
'There's no real silver bullet, so hopefully if confirmed, you can come up with those answers outside of salaries that can fill these positions. We're willing to do whatever we can to assist. Hope you're willing to reach out.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
33 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Texas lawmakers pass medical marijuana bill that includes chronic pain
A bill expanding Texas' medical marijuana program is headed to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's desk. The latest version was negotiated by members of the Texas House and Senate, including several lawmakers representing parts of Tarrant County. A compromise version of House Bill 46 advanced on Sunday, June 1, as negotiated in a conference committee made up of lawmakers from both chambers. It includes a number of recommendations from supporters of medical marijuana on how to improve the program, called the Texas Compassionate Use Program. The bill's measures include: Permitting satellite locations where dispensing organizations can securely store medical marijuana for distribution. Currently the products can only be stored overnight at an organization's main location, creating distribution challenges. Requires the state to have 15 dispensing organizations. At least three are required now, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety. Allows inhaling medical marijuana as an aerosol or vapor. Smoking is still not allowed. It also expands qualifying medical conditions to include: A condition that causes chronic pain. A traumatic brain injury. A terminal illness or condition that requires hospice or palliative care. The version that passed out of the House in May also included glaucoma, degenerative disc disease and spinal neuropathy, and included language specifically folding veterans into the program. The bill defines chronic pain as 'pain that is not relieved with acute, post-surgical, post-procedure or persistent non-chronic pain treatment and is associated with a chronic pathological process that causes continuous or intermittent severe pain for more than 90 days and for which a tetrahydrocannabinol is a viable method of treatment.' The Senate's version had included language that would have required patients to be on an opioid for 90 days before qualifying for the medical marijuana program. That requirement wasn't acceptable to the House, said Rep. Ken King, a Republican from Canadian who authored the bill. 'While we were not able to find agreement on degenerative disc disease, glucoma, spinal neuropathy and veterans, we believe with the new definitions of chronic pain, most of these patients will be covered,' King said. Tony Tinderholt, an Arlington Republican, who was a member of the conference committee, maintained that veterans are covered under the bill. 'The veterans out there watching need to know that the Texas Compassionate Use Program has been protected,' Tinderholt said. The expansion comes as Texas is positioned to ban consumable TCH products, like the delta-8 and delta-a gummies, vapes and drinks that can be found at stores and gas stations across Texas. The ban was a top priority of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who on May 28 held a news conference blasting the THC products. Members of the hemp business community have called for new regulations, like age restrictions, and better enforcement of existing regulations, rather than a ban of the products. The Texas Hemp Business Council has called on Abbott to veto the legislation.
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
Trump's tax bill has a long way to go in the Senate as Republicans mull major changes
Republican leaders spent months carefully crafting the 1,038-page megabill advancing President Donald Trump's agenda, engaging in grueling negotiations and backroom dealings to unite competing GOP factions just enough to squeeze the package through the House. Now, several of those provisions that ensured its passage could be on the chopping block. The Senate is set to begin consideration of Trump's 'big beautiful bill' as Republican leaders scramble to finalize the massive budget framework before the Fourth of July. But Republican senators — including Utah Sens. Mike Lee and John Curtis — are unsure about some of the contents, warning some provisions go too far while others don't go far enough to reduce the nation's deficit. 'There are solid victories in the bill,' Lee said in a statement to the Deseret News. 'But in its current form, the (Big Beautiful Bill Act) won't pass the Senate. It simply doesn't do enough to address the government's spending crisis. But we can make it better.' One of the most controversial provisions tucked into the budget resolution is language repealing clean energy tax credits that were passed in the Inflation Reduction Act under the Biden administration with only Democratic support. That language was demanded by a group of fiscal conservatives in the House who threatened to vote against the full package if it was not included. However, some Republicans have been wary to fully repeal the green energy tax incentives, arguing it could raise utility costs for all Americans. Curtis is among those pushing to preserve some of those clean energy policies, particularly those dealing with nuclear energy, net-zero emissions, battery storage and more. The first-term senator has long centered his climate policies on clean energy solutions, suggesting earlier this week he will push for those changes as the Senate considers the bill. 'My friends in the House kind of called me up to say, 'Listen, we're counting on you to fix it,'' Curtis said at an event in Tooele last week. 'So I think even many of them knew that what they sent over did need some work, and that's now our job in the Senate to put our stamp on that and have it speak for our will.' 'And I think if I have anything to say about it,' he added, 'I'll make sure that we're taking into account our energy future.' On the other hand, Lee has previously suggested he wants a comprehensive repeal of the Inflation Reduction Act, telling the Deseret News it should be overhauled 'lock, stock, and barrel.' 'There are some simple ways we can improve the bill,' Lee said. One way is to 'end Biden's politically motivated subsidies under the so-called 'Inflation Reduction Act' and end the Green New Scam once and for all.' While the two Utah senators have competing visions for the future of green energy tax credits, the pair have similar views on how to address proposals paring back government spending to reduce the deficit. Both Curtis and Lee have pushed for deeper spending cuts and reforms to certain government programs. While Republicans have vowed not to slash necessary benefits under Medicaid and other welfare programs, Curtis has repeatedly urged lawmakers to engage in conversations about reining in fraudulent spending. If not, the senator has warned, drastic cuts will be necessary in the future. Lee has also been vocal about searching for deeper spending cuts in the budget framework, arguing it does not go far enough to reduce the deficit. Those calls have been echoed by some fiscal hawks in the House, who say they are counting on the Senate to implement deeper spending cuts they couldn't secure with their slim majority. Another key deal that was made in the reconciliation package is an expansion of federal deductions for state and local taxes paid, also known as SALT. That provision was demanded by blue-state Republicans who threatened tanking the package if it wasn't included. Republican leaders offered to increase the current deduction cap to $40,000 — up from the current $10,000 limit — for individuals who make $500,000 or less a year. That cap would then increase by 1% every year over the next decade and remain permanent after that period. However, that increase may not be met with open arms in the Senate — and Lee is already hinting at its removal. 'Right now, it unfortunately contains big SALT cap increases, which are basically subsidies for high-tax blue states paid for by hardworking families in Utah and the rest of the country,' Lee said. Another provision that could find itself on the cutting room floor: a debt ceiling increase. The debt limit is the total amount of money the federal government is authorized to borrow in order to pay off existing obligations, tax refunds, interest on the national debt and other payments, according to the Treasury Department. House Republicans tucked a $4 trillion debt ceiling increase into the budget resolution to avoid a default later this summer, arguing that by doing so, they would strip Democrats of the chance to use the impending deadline as leverage to attach some of their own policies. However, some Republicans are staunchly opposed to a debt limit increase in any fashion. 'I think the problem for conservatives is they lose their high moral ground. These will be their deficits,' said Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who is currently opposed to the package. 'These will be GOP spending bills, GOP deficits, and there is no change in the direction of the country.' House GOP leaders are pleading with their counterparts in the Senate not to make changes to the massive reconciliation package, warning any edits could tank the megabill before it even makes it to Trump's desk. Meanwhile, the president is telling the Senate to 'make the changes they want' — sending mixed messages as Republicans consider alterations to the budget framework advancing policies on the border, energy, national defense and tax reform. Some of the hard-to-convince lawmakers hope their stubbornness will ward off any of their Senate colleagues from making drastic changes, noting the drawn-out process in the House should deter them from doing so. 'I think after seeing how painful of a process this is and how difficult it is to get anything through this side, I think that will send a strong message in the Senate that you can't really change it,' Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Mo., a member of the Freedom Caucus, told the Deseret News.
CNBC
8 hours ago
- CNBC
10 ways the 'Trump discount' is hurting the stock market
We keep getting thrown off, and the lack of predictability is driving investors elsewhere. Do we really think the economies in Europe are doing that well? Is Italy on fire? Spain soaring? No. But what they do have is consistency , even if it is the consistency of mediocrity. We, on the other hand, have no stability whatsoever because of the incredible, mind-boggling power of the White House. It's so pervasive, frightening even if you care about the U.S. Constitution, that I think the rank-and-file of both parties in the House and the Senate are shocked to their core. We have never seen anything like it. To think, you have to go back to the time of Andrew Jackson's presidency to worry about what happens if the judiciary is disobeyed is a statement for the ages. So, it throws us off. We sit here, agog, as Europe goes higher when we have companies in our stock indexes that are doing much, much better than any of theirs. But it doesn't matter because ours can be taken away with a stroke of President Donald Trump's pen — and don't we know it. 1. Nvidia The fact that Club name Nvidia last Wednesday evening could blow away numbers without China is incredible. The stock showed it Thursday but gave back most of the gains Friday. That's the power of the Trump discount. 2. Retail stocks We have whole swaths of the stock landscape getting held back by the Trump discount. We all were hoping to see that retailers would try to extract discounts from suppliers and then split the tariff pain with the customer. But the president attacks Walmart , perhaps the only company besides Club name Costco , to actually do Trump's bidding. Or what we thought was the president's bidding. Makes me wonder, if something were made in America, could you jack up the price without consequences? Most likely. It's no wonder that Costco's stock shot higher last week. It's the only retailer that's not yet having to raise prices. I don't picture the president being a Costco customer. If he were a member, I bet he would crow about it. The dollar stores may be right in the crosshairs next week. The Street worships them right now. But retail is mighty hard to trust. Thank heavens for Club name TJX , the company behind T.J. Maxx, Marshalls, and HomeGoods, which really is cutting prices. The stock is still too low as far as I am concerned. 3. Drugs stocks The drug companies have a huge Trump discount. I didn't pay much attention to the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) this year because I figured that no experimental cancer drug would come to the fore. Who would want to trumpet that? We know the president is adopting a position that's been antithetical to the Republicans, who have fought for years to not allow Medicare to negotiate prices. Now we have little-to-no understanding of what awaits us with pricing — so the price to earnings (PE) multiples keep shrinking. That's the Trump discount. Oh, and heaven forbid, you make vaccines. You are experiencing the wrath of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., the Secretary of Health and Human Services. Glaxo's managed to avoid it, but there's that European halo again. 4. Food stocks On Monday, you will see how hobbled another group has become when Campbell's reports its quarterly results. We don't know what's happening behind the scenes of the soup company, which also owns brands including Prego and Rao's pasta sauces, Goldfish snacks, and V8 drinks. We do know that other food companies have been called in — don't know the names —and told by RFK Jr. to get the coloring out of their foods. 5. Apple Of course, Nvidia isn't the only tech company that's under fire. The Trump discount is crushing fellow Club name Apple . It's bad enough that people believe that Apple has "missed" artificial intelligence even as we know AI is going to go on forever, and Apple will catch up. To be sure, though, it has been slower than everyone would like, so far. But it's the incredibly shocking switch that Apple has endured that's so painful. Did anyone believe that the only goal for the president was to make all iPhones in America? We all got confused. We thought that Trump's goal was to get manufacturing out of China to anywhere. (So many retailers thought that, too.) It turns out that getting out of China to go to another jurisdiction, say India in Apple's case, might have been as bad or worse than staying in China because at least you had a better shot at selling things in China. That's probably no longer the case given the Chinese government's subtle antipathy for those who are pulling out or trying to minimize China. 6. Software stocks So far, software has dodged a bullet, or I should say DOGE'd a bullet because it looks like the federal agencies that were supposed to cut back on vendors saw their havoc wreaked on Booz Allen and not many others. That Club name Salesforce went down, at least, had nothing to do with the Department of Government Efficiency advisory group. It's an alleged sales slowdown from "old" Salesforce that's driving things lower. 7. Google What about the internet? Can you believe how hated Google-parent Alphabet is that the Trump administration has embraced the single most leftwing case brought by the Justice Department against the search giant? The fact that a case that I thought was confiscatory and punitive is being pursued as aggressively as it was under former President Joe Biden is shocking to me. 8. Bank stocks We even have a Trump discount in banking. We've seen almost no let-up in regulation except when it comes to bitcoin , which is rapidly becoming the only entity in this market that has a Trump premium. It is true that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent makes some sense — and is, bizarrely for this administration, consistent — but he's more of a fire fighter than a deregulator. I can only imagine the role he is going to have to play if we get a weaker employment number but a spike in inflation. I don't envy him. 9. M & A I do expect more mergers and acquisitions, and I know that there have been a few already that would have been shot down by the Federal Trade Commission under Biden. But that's a low bar. How can you do deals in a world where nobody can predict cash flow because of how unpredictable the White House is? Call that a huge discount. The stocks reflect it. 10. Energy stocks It's particularly galling when there's no lift in a group that had been hated under Biden: the oil and natural gas industry. I know the Trump administration wants more pipe, but nothing is happening. Trump wants to open up federal lands to drilling, oblivious to the fact that the oil companies haven't been calling for it because it is too expensive. No energy source is getting a break. The president is permitting all sorts of nuclear power, or he says he is. But his Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is the gating factor, and I see no change there. Bottom line The takeaway from all of this is pretty sickening. Take tomorrow. We were going down pretty consistently Friday — and when we got to down 1% on the S & P 500 , the president let it be known that there could be a call soon with Chinese President Xi Jinping . Nevermind, that hours before, he accused China of violating the terms of the trade deal it made with the United States last month. Over the weekend, there was no call with Xi, so I have to figure we just resume Friday's decline from the get-go, barring something positive from the president about American business. Although it's hard to predict what that could be. The funny thing is, I feel very alone writing this stuff, given how rarely it is talked about. But that's part of the overall mystique of the White House. What will happen to you if you speak up? How long will it take to produce a level of retribution to make you the Harvard of the S & P 500? Suffice it to say, there's no let-up in the derision of business and the uncertainty of it all. Sometimes, I pine for the previous administration as Biden knew so little about business that he didn't know who to hate, so he just hated everyone. Nevertheless, unlike Trump, he had ineffectual hatred. No premium. But no discount either. (See here for a full list of the stocks in Jim Cramer's Charitable Trust.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust's portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB. NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED.
