DOC asks for FY26 increases for standby pay, inmate tablets and program allocations

The Alaska Department of Corrections presented its Division of Institutions FY26 budget request to the House Finance Committee’s Department of Corrections subcommittee on Feb. 11, asking for new personnel authority for supervisory standby pay and funding for inmate tablets alongside program-specific increments.

The request, shown on slide materials for the subcommittee, would convert some currently ad hoc or overtime-like costs into base personnel authority and add funding for technology and program allocations. Department officials said they will correct a transposition error on the FY25 management-plan figures that was on the presentation slide.

The deputy commissioner, April Wilkerson, described the Division of Institutions mission and the scope of programs covered in the RDU. Kevin Worley, director of Administrative Services, told the subcommittee, "we did notice there there was a transposition error, so we'll be updating this slide after this meeting." Worley also identified the supervisory standby-pay request and said "the 13 institutions that are impacted by the stand by pay" are listed on the slide.

Committee members pressed for clarification on several line items. Wilkerson said the position counts shown on slide 4 are "the current budgeted positions within, and that is also reflected in the '26 governor's request," confirming the figures were not requests for new, additional positions. On designated funding sources, Wilkerson and other DOC staff explained that changes shown in the slides largely reflect shifts in how programs are funded rather than program eliminations — for example, money that previously appeared as PFD- or restorative-justice–linked receipts was replaced with general funds in FY25 and that some recidivism-reduction funding derives from marijuana-tax allocations.

Worley gave specific increment figures the department planned to add if adopted: a "2.8 increment for the institution director's office," "130.3 for classification and furlough," "81 to the inmate transportation allocation," and "134.2 for electronic monitoring." The presenters did not specify units on the slide during the meeting; Wilkerson said the figures are part of the governor's request and the department will provide corrected slides after the meeting.

Committee members also questioned potential ripple effects of establishing standby pay as part of base personnel costs. Representative Holland asked whether other bargaining units might seek similar treatment; DOC staff said the standby pay is an allowable compensation item in the supervisors' contract and they did not currently foresee asking for additional standby increments for other groups, but could not rule out future bargaining impacts.

On inmate technology, Worley noted the department is deploying inmate tablets and listed a cost increase tied to that effort. The department did not provide a line-item per-inmate cost for tablets during the session but said the tablet deployment was a previously discussed item and is included in the slide package.

Why it matters: putting standby pay and recurring program costs into base personnel authority shifts those expenses from one-time or internal reclassification fixes into ongoing budgeted salaries and affects future baseline appropriations. Committee members asked for corrected slides and follow-up documentation showing the effect of funding-source changes and the precise dollar units behind the increments presented.

The subcommittee did not take a formal vote during the presentation. DOC staff said they will update the transposed slide and provide additional documentation on the recidivism-reduction funding allocation and other requested details at a later date.