Corrections scolded over 'good old boys'

Despite being instructed by a governor's transition report two years ago to improve conditions at the Utah Department of Corrections, the department that oversees Utah's penal system continues to be ruled by "good old boys" who encourage institutionalized favoritism and apparent gender discrimination, a scathing legislative audit has concluded.

According to the 71-page legislative audit report made public Wednesday, the department suffers from an "underlying culture of unfairness and favoritism."

Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr.'s spokesman, Mike Mower, said the audit has prompted the governor's own inquiry into the issues, out of concern for public safety; and the governor anticipates that review will be complete in a few weeks.

Corrections Executive Director Scott Carver defended himself and his administration during a hearing Wednesday at the state Capitol.

"Staff are our No. 1 priority," Carver said. But he acknowledged that several areas need improvement, including the fact that 6 percent of Corrections officers are behind in their certification training as law enforcement officers. Carver blamed a new system that let officers keep track of their training hours themselves, without oversight by administration.

The report lists numerous examples in which administrative officials, including internal-affairs officers, were shielded from internal investigations and disciplinary action. But the auditors said one employee was punished for coming forward with an allegation that a senior Corrections officer breached security.

Questions were also raised about the department's 192 "commute vehicles," which the auditors said were given to "select administrators and supervisors" to use at a cost of $1.1 million in taxpayer funds.

The report said UDOC did away with a system to track the use of the vehicles and could not account the purposes for which the vehicles were used. There were employees who used these vehicles who "do not have a clear need for such," the report said.

One of the main focuses of the audit centered around a sense of what some Corrections employees called a "good old boys" system. A 2003 UDOC employee survey showed that 76 percent of employees believed favoritism existed and 81 percent felt frustrated. The audit found that from 1998 to 2005, the Corrections Department has led all state departments in the number of employee grievances filed.

The problem was expressed by an officer with the Career Service Review Board, who suggested that "such a culture at a minimum needs to be 'reined in' if not ideally totally quashed for the benefit of the taxpaying public."