This morning Alaska House District 37 Representative Bryce Edgmon was on
KDLG’s Legislative Call-In Show & the topic du jour was #AllAboutTheBudget. Rep. Edgmon, a Democrat who caucuses with the
House Majority (Republican) serves on the Finance Committee, Chairs the
Corrections and Public Safety sub-Committees and serves on the Health &
Social Services sub-Committee. Please
see our Bryce Edgmon profile links at the bottom of this article.
Last week He was presented with a copy of the United For Liberty FY2017
Budget Proposals. This collection of
collaborative proposals/suggestions is a plan that aims at cutting unnecessary
growth in the State of Alaska’s budgets.
These are cuts that have to be made now…Not Later.
During the show, Edgmon said several interesting things in response to
caller’s questions on the budget issues.
He plainly stated that Alaska will see an “inevitable use of the PFD.”
and that “We can’t cut our way to a sustainable budget.”. In response to being asked about the UFL Proposals,
Representative Edgmon quite frankly said that the information he had reviewed
was “not factual”.
<<AUDIO LINK>>
Start @ the 20:00 minute mark for comments about the UFL proposals. But let’s look at the particular section of
the UFL Proposal that Rep. Edgmon
chose to challenge, Corrections. Bryce
says two things here: the information provided by UFL is “not factual” and that
these cuts would “cripple the department”.
I beg to differ Sir and want to reiterate these facts…
”The number of inmates, from 2006‐2016, increased by 11%. During the same period the number
of DOC employees increased, disproportionally, by 36%. DOC’s budget also
increased by 50%.”
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| CLICK IMAGE FOR FULL VERSION |
Even
before the show was over, I was trying to get in touch with the man that put
this section of the UFL proposals together, Steve St. Clair. By The Way, Steve
is a retired Military Police First Sergeant and has controlled detention
facilities in multiple States and in Afghanistan and is very familiar with
Corrections. He is also a very active
Citizen and closely watches the Alaska Politics & Budget issues … You know,
having a Master’s Degree in Business sort of makes people do things like
that. So, that’s Why I put some weight into
what the UFL proposals are.
While waiting to
hear from him, I pulled up my own copy of the Proposals and immediately began
chasing down what Bryce had said about the numbers, which came from several
government agencies including the Department of Corrections, the Governor’s
Office and the State legislature.
Anyways… Here’s what Steve has to say about this and
we’ll include references below.
“I did
listen to the radio segment with Rep Edgmon and he discounts all except one of
the suggestions that were put forward. He addressed nothing about the free
health care that inmates are provided and the free education. I am willing to
sit down with any legislator and give my rationale for cuts.”
References:
Alaska Dept. of Corrections - Administrative Review
November 13, 2015
Dean Williams and Joe Hanlon
US Department of Justice - Prisoners in 2014
September 2015
E. Ann Carson, Ph.D., BJS Statistician
National Institute of Corrections - Alaska Statistics
November 1, 2015
Performance Review of the Alaska Department of
Corrections
State of Alaska Division of Legislative Audit
December 2014
Alaska Justice Forum - UAA
U.S. and Alaska Incarceration Rates: Prisoners in 2005
2015 Recidivism Reduction Plan: Cost-Effective Solutions
to Slow Prison Population Growth and Reduce Recidivism
Prepared by: Carmen Gutierrez
February 2015
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