I am writing today to announce the closure of the New Mexico Independent. After three and a half years of operation in New Mexico, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news…
While environmental activists played their part yesterday during demonstrations at the capitol building, going so far as to dress up as solar panels and to sing the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” their counterparts, the anti-cap-and-trade contingency who has…
Roughly one quarter of University of New Mexico students are unimpressed with the state’s flagship public school, according to a survey that questioned college students about their higher education experiences.
Corrections Secretary Joe Williams‘ prior employment at one of two private prison operators he chose not to fine despite repeated contract violations casts a cloud over his decision, a powerful state senator says.
For years Williams, who worked as a warden for GEO Group before joining Gov. Bill Richardson’s cabinet, has not collected penalties against his old employer and Corrections Corp. of America (CCA) despite increasing evidence that both firms regularly violated a contract rule requiring certain staffing levels at the four facilities they operate.
Williams told The Independent in a previous interview that his decision was based on the good job the two companies had done operating prisons in Hobbs, Grants, Santa Rosa and Clayton. He added that the firms’ contracts give him discretion to penalize or not.
But Sen. John Arthur Smith, D-Deming, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, told The Independent on Friday that Williams’ previous employment with GEO casts suspicion over his decision and creates questions of appearance.
“It’s a real cloud on his career,” Smith said of Williams. “That type of generosity will make certain that he is hired quickly.”
Williams will likely be out of a job when New Mexico’s new governor takes over in January—cabinet secretaries are typically replaced when a state’s new chief executive takes over.
Williams acknowledged as much in a recent interview with The Independent.
“They fire guys like me,” Williams quipped.
Asked Friday to respond to Smith’s remarks, a spokeswoman for Williams instead sent an e-mail saying: “Last week Secretary Williams explained his position to you regarding this matter. He has not changed his position.”
Potential penalties never assessed
State records suggest that GEO and CCA might have regularly triggered staffing-level penalties. By contract, New Mexico can levy penalties against GEO and CCA when staffing vacancies at their facilities stay at 10 percent or more for 30-consecutive days.
State records show that staffing levels at three of the four facilities operated by GEO and CCA hovered above 10 percent for much of the last fiscal year. At the fourth facility, the vacancy rate was above the 10 percent trigger in six of the 13 months the state records covered.
One estimate by the Legislature’s budget arm, the Legislative Finance Committee (LFC), has put at $18 million the potential penalties the state has not collected as a result of Williams’ decision.
“If the facilities’ operational quality is not hampered due to high vacancy rates, then the department may be paying for staff that isn’t needed,” LFC staff noted in a 14-page report.
Inadequate record-keeping makes dollar amount elusive
But a spokeswoman for the New Mexico Corrections Department said the agency can’t verify how much in potential penalties the state has given up because of sporadic record-keeping at the four facilities the two firms operate.
“We do not have an estimate of how much in penalties could have been assessed–because we do not have adequate records to demonstrate how long some correctional officer positions remained vacant,” corrections spokeswoman Tia Bland told The Independent.
The corrections agency has a bureau dedicated to making sure the private prison operators meet contractual obligations, but the inadequate record keeping — and the agency’s inability to account for such data — suggests that detailed tracking of staffing levels was not an agency priority.
The Legislative Finance Committee has directed the agency to immediately start collecting such information, which it is doing, Bland said. Meanwhile the corrections agency has ordered GEO and CCA to provide past staffing data to get a sense of how often the 10 percent rule was violated and how much in penalties the state forgave.
Some of the data has come in, Bland said in an e-mail.
Williams’ ‘unilateral’ decision angers state lawmakers
Some state legislators are angered by the Corrections Department’s inability to say how much the state never collected in potential penalties, especially given the state’s dismal financial situation. Leaner state agencies, cut in previous years, are again imposing cost-saving measures because state revenues aren’t keeping pace with state spending.
Smith added to that refrain last week.
“It’s real bothersome to me that we’re scratching for money and he unilaterally makes this decision,” Smith said of Williams. “That is spending taxpayer money recklessly. He is not looking out for the best interest of New Mexico.”
