Senate committee hears Department of Corrections budget pitch emphasizing lock replacements, modular units and staffing

The Department of Corrections presented its amended FY25 and FY26 budget requests to a Senate committee, asking lawmakers to approve a package of spending to replace lock-and-control systems across state prisons, add modular units to expand bed capacity, hire staff and fund emergency facility repairs.

The department asked the committee to consider amended FY25 recommendations totaling $458,700,000 and FY26 recommendations of $144,600,000, according to the presentation slide the commissioner left displayed for the panel. The package included funding for emergency repairs, a ‘‘tiger team’’ to accelerate lock-and-control projects, modular housing units to add beds quickly, and recruitment funding to fill vacancies.

Lawmakers pressed the commissioner and staff on several points: the math behind specific line items, how quickly mobile/modular units could be put in service, whether private prisons should be used more, and how long full lock-and-control replacement would take. "So I think if we have a short-term need to get beds done ... we're probably talking about 5 years' worth of project manager's time here," Representative Williams said while questioning the per-position cost estimates. The commissioner and staff said designs, construction and full replacement of lock-and-control systems are on a multi-year timeline and that some work would be accelerated by using contractor teams and existing state contracts.

Why it matters: committee members repeatedly emphasized urgency. Several members said they want faster timelines and clearer comparisons between using private prison…