Reports on Other Entities
A Review of the Harris County Community Supervision and Corrections Department
June 1996
Report Number 96-068
Overall Conclusions
The Alberti court order gave Harris County officials a unique opportunity to establish model programs providing alternatives to incarceration. However, this opportunity was marred by financial mismanagement and inadequate oversight by local and state officials.
The lack of monitoring or evaluation of program results makes it impossible to gauge whether Alberti funding was achieving its intended objectives of reducing recidivism and the long-term demand for incarceration.
Key Facts And Findings
For many years prior to the Alberti court order, Harris County Community Supervision and Corrections Department (Harris County CSCD) had experienced financial accounting weaknesses. The Alberti court order infused a substantial amount of additional funding into an organization which already had difficulty managing its existing resources.
We found an overall laxness in Harris County CSCD's control environment and a resulting failure to maintain proper accountability over funds. Although previous audits had repeatedly identified such problems, no corrective action was taken.
Harris County CSCD's contracting practices exposed public funds to waste and abuse. Apparent conflicts of interest were pervasive, and competitive bidding was the exception rather than the rule.
Local officials placed too much reliance on Harris County CSCD's administrators and did not devote sufficient attention to independently monitoring the activities of Harris County CSCD.
State oversight of Harris County CSCD was also ineffective. Despite indications of financial management problems, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice adopted a "hands off" policy concerning Alberti funds.
Harris County CSCD was unable to provide some of the documents we requested during the audit, particularly with respect to the planning and construction of the Baker Street residential facility. Our inability to obtain and review this information resulted in a significant limitation on the scope of our work.
Contact the SAO about this report.
Download the PDF version of this report. (.pdf)
HTML Equivalent (utilizing Adobe's PDF Conversion by Simple Form).