Senate subcommittee reviews $24.7 million increase in Alaska DOC FY26 request and funding shifts

Deputy Commissioner April Wilkerson and Administrative Services Director Kevin Worley presented the Department of Corrections’ FY26 operating budget request to the Senate Finance Budget Subcommittee on Feb. 5, telling the panel the department seeks an overall increase of $24,700,000 (about 5.4%) on a $481 million operating base and is proposing several fund-source changes to replace reduced federal and other restricted revenue with unrestricted general funds (UGF).

Why it matters: the Department of Corrections is one of Alaska’s largest general fund consumers. Lawmakers pressed department leaders on long-term cost growth, capacity and program investments that aim to reduce recidivism and staff burnout while the department manages near-capacity institutions.

Wilkerson said about “just over 90%” of the department’s operating budget is unrestricted general funds; other revenue sources include federal funds (1.9%), other revenue such as the Mental Health Trust Authority and interagency receipts (4.8%), and designated program receipts (2.7%). The department told the committee it employs roughly 2,100 permanent full-time positions and that population-management (institutional) operations account for the largest share of spending, followed by health and rehabilitative services and pretrial/probation/parole work (referred to in the presentation as DP3).

Funding shifts and federal billing. Wilkerson and Worley described a projected reduction in federal revenue tied to how the U.S. Marshals Service bills for federal holds: the department estimates a 7.5% reduction in federal mandate revenue that it proposes to backfill with UGF and has submitted a matching FY25 supplemental. Wilkerson said the department “has been continually coordinating with Department of Law…to try and renegotiate” with the Marshals Service but has not been successful, and asked the committee for any assistance with legislative or federal delegation engagement.

Restorative-justice and recidivism-reduction funds. Worley outlined a proposed fund-source realignment for restorative-justice and recidivism-reduction funds: initially the FY26 request included a roughly $2.5 million reduction in restorative-justice…