OCT. 16, 2009 -- A long-awaited audit of the S.C. Department of Corrections released this week turned up little wrong, but did little to bring to an end the ongoing fight between legislators and the agency’s oft-criticized director, Jon Ozmint.
In some ways, the report compiled by the state Legislative Audit Council was a vindication for Ozmint.
The just-released report found little significantly wrong at the department, peppering its conclusions with fairly bland recommendations, many of which were already being adhered to, according to Ozmint.
Perhaps the biggest revelation contained in the report was that Corrections -- whose director has complained consistently that his agency has been woefully under-funded -- had reported an officer-to-inmate ratio of 9.1:1, but the council found it was actually 6.1:1.
Brewing criticism
The director has been under constant criticism from an especially vocal state Sen. Phil Leventis (D-Sumter). Last month in an open letter to Gov. Mark Sanford demanding Ozmint’s removal, Leventis alleged Ozmint was everything from being arrogant and a bully to a bad manager and someone just short of a liar.
But the vanilla findings of the new auditwere a far cry from the Neapolitan allegations Leventis has been leveling. That didn’t, however, mean Leventis or Ozmint this week stopped firing on each other or the audit.
Ozmint, in an at times blistering 20-page response to the report, criticized the investigation for being biased, politically motivated, and not up to the audit council’s standards.
LAC director Tom Bardin declined to comment on the response, preferring to let his office’s report speak for itself.
But state Sen. Mike Fair (R-Greenville) said responding to Ozmint’s charges: “The [Corrections] director is a friend of mine, and my friend is wrong.” Fair is a non-voting member of the LAC with full access to the investigation, as well as the chair of the Corrections and Penology Committee in the Senate.
Fair, who has criticized his friend, Ozmint, in the past for his language and arrogance, said he was disappointed in the Corrections director’s response. “I was surprised by the vitriol in his response,” he said.
“If I could broker a peace” between Corrections and the legislature, said Fair, “I would consider my tenure as chair a success. Something has to change.”
Feisty responses
The language in Ozmint’s response gave proof that his trademark feistiness was still intact.
“This audit was born of a failed witch hunt,” wrote Ozmint, before admitting that his was not a perfect agency. The response went on to allege that the report misused the word “several,” as well as re-hashed the fight over the LAC’s early attempts to survey employee morale, in which Ozmint sent out an accompanying note about his problems with the process.
Leventis, not one to back down, described Ozmint’s response this week as a “rant,” and did little to shy away from the fight.
“Mr. Ozmint, based on his response, appears to be exactly what he is, a political operative,” said Leventis, who continued to call for Ozmint‘s firing. “What South Carolina really needs is a competent and capable administrator.”
Leventis criticized Ozmint for his agency’s record in paying out on lawsuits filed against it by employees and former employees, specifically two administrators who were found guilty in a civil conspiracy case against a former warden.
The audit also showed a significant increase in legal fees and settlements since Ozmint took office in 2003. Ozmint’s response criticized the report for not taking into account a claimed 90-percent increase in lawyer fees from 2000 to 2008.
Agency response
Corrections spokesman Josh Gelinas responded to some of the criticisms and concerns Friday morning.
As for the difference in officer to inmate ratios, Gelinas didn’t argue with the LAC’s findings, but added that the department “operates with fewer resources per inmate and as percentage of state budget than at least 48 other states. In addition, I would ask our critics to note that even at one officer to six inmates, that ratio is still13 percent higher than the Southern states' average.”
Lewis Cromer, a Columbia attorney who has regularly sued Corrections as well as other state agencies and departments on behalf of state employees, said the report didn’t include the last year and a half in settlements and legal fees.
According to Cromer, his recent cases have resulted in close to double the “$400,000” in expenses and settlements the agency had paid out through June of 2008 “in 2008-09 and again in the first four months of 2009-10 alone.”
Part of Ozmint’s response was that Corrections are the most sued federal and state agencies.
Report literally hits home
Another part of the audit really hit home with Ozmint. Literally. Echoing past recommendations, the audit council’s report also called for Corrections to sell or find another use for the director’s home, a current perk of the job.
Corrections’ response: “Let’s be frank about this as well: This topic of inquiry simply mimics the partisan rants of Senator Leventis, who included a budget proviso on this topic last year and hopes to use this recommendation to force Director Ozmint’s family to move out of the director’s house.
“His hypocrisy and partisanship are clear: this is a suggestion that he has never made during decades of [D]emocratic administrations and one that he has never made about other state employees who live in state housing. It is another attempt to intimidate in his continuing campaign of retribution against the Agency Director.”
Fair said he was “amazed” by this part of the response, and said that there had been calls to redefine the house dating back over a decade. “Mr. Ozmint was not being singled out,” he said.
What’s next
Fair said his committee would review the report and responses when the legislature reconvened, but wasn’t sure what the next step would be.
Corrections spokesperson Gelinas said Friday that the department enjoyed a good relationship with most legislators, and that if any, including Fair, had concerns, Ozmint would be glad to receive them.
Additionally, Gelinas said Ozmint stood by the tone of his response, saying he believed it appropriate.
Crystal ball: The fight over Corrections is far from over. Leventis says the governor has yet to fully respond to his letter. Cromer’s various suits will move forward. Fair said Leventis was far from the only legislator calling for changes, “it’s a group of four or five senators.” And Ozmint isn’t backing down.