Tag: Commissioner Jim Rubenstein

Corrections Commissioner Rubenstein Fined

The West Virginia Ethics Commission has fined and reprimanded Corrections Commissioner Jim Rubenstein, a day after his retirement was announced.

The Charleston Gazette-Mail reports the commission on Wednesday ordered Rubenstein to pay $7,000 after an investigation into his use of a rent-free apartment provided by a state prison contractor.

Rubenstein, who has been commissioner since 2001, said in an agreement with the Ethics Commission that his actions were due to “a lack of vigilance” and said he regretted “any appearance of impropriety.”

Rubenstein earlier agreed to pay back rent to the apartment’s owner, Terrence Rusin, CEO of PsiMed, which provides mental health services to the state prison system.

Rubenstein claimed he had a deal with Rusin to furnish the apartment and leave the furniture behind when he vacated the apartment.

He is retiring effective April 1.

West Virginia Still Hopes to Turn Ex-Navy Base into Prison

  West Virginia officials say plans are moving forward to convert part of a soon-to-be closed Navy base in Pendleton County into a state prison.

Corrections Commissioner Jim Rubenstein told legislators Thursday that the state has submitted a formal application to the federal General Services Division to use part of the 122-acre Sugar Grove military base.

The Charleston Gazette reports that the Navy announced plans in 2012 to close the Naval Information Operations Command base.

State officials say in addition to a 600-plus bed correctional facility, the joint application also calls for the state National Guard to develop a Wounded Warrior assisted-living center on the base, and for the state Department of Agriculture to use some of the acreage for farmland to be maintained by inmates.

W.Va. Opts Not to Pursue Out-of-State Corrections Facility

State officials have decided against housing some inmates outside the state.

In 2013, West Virginia had asked national companies to bid on sending West Virginia inmates to their out-of-state facilities in the hopes of curbing the state over crowding problem. The proposal envisioned the short-term transfer of up to 400 inmates who agreed to the move to receive educational and rehabilitative programs.

West Virginia Corrections Commissioner Jim Rubenstein said in a news release that he thanked Corrections Corporation of America for its interest in the proposal. CCA was the sole bidder for the project, and proposed to house West Virginia inmates at its Lee Adjustment Center in Kentucky.

The release says the Justice Reinvestment Act, signed in 2013, and related steps have reduced the regional jail backlog by hundreds of inmates. Legislation enacted last year has helped to ensure access to needed programs for inmates at the jails.

State Tells McDowell County to Address Jail Issues

The Division of Corrections has told the McDowell County Commission to address deficiencies at the Stevens Correctional Center or risk losing its contract to house state inmates at the facility.

The Bluefield Daily Telegraph reports that Corrections Commissioner Jim Rubenstein sent a letter to the commission regarding the deficiencies earlier this month. The issues include staff members not following Division of Corrections directives.

Rubenstein’s letter says the county owes the division liquidated damages under the contract.

The letter also says the division would cancel the contract if the problems aren’t resolved. But the agency is willing to waive damages and assist in transferring the facility’s ownership and operations to the state.

Commission President Gordon Lambert didn’t immediately return a telephone message from The Associated Press on Monday.

Division of Corrections Still Working to Provide Programs to Overflow Inmates

Over the past two years, lawmakers have implemented two pieces of legislation intended to drastically decrease the population in state prisons in the face of a growing overcrowding problem.

In 2013, the Legislature passed Senate Bill 371, the Justice Reinvestment Act. Among a long list of provisions, the bill allowed the Division of Corrections to develop and implement a cognitive behavioral restructuring program for DOC inmates being housed at regional jails due to overcrowding in the state prisons.

The key to that bill, however, is offering all other programs in the Regional Jail system was optional, not mandatory. That is until 2014.

Senate Bill 457, which was passed in March, required those additional programs be made available. The bill requires the DOC to provide things like substance abuse treatment or a high school equivalency program at regional jails just like they do within their own facilities.

DOC inmates take many of these classes while they’re incarcerated to help them become parole eligible, but inmates who are housed at regional jails because of a lack of beds can’t take those classes and are staying locked up longer, costing the state more money.

“[The funding] for the positions for Senate Bill 457 is in next year’s fiscal budget,” DOC Commissioner Jim Rubenstein told members of the Legislative Oversight Committee on Regional Jail and Correctional Facility Authority Monday. “So, we’re preparing, but we won’t actually be able to hire until after July 8.”

The DOC was alotted funding for ten 10 new counselors under the bill, but  hasn’t filled the positions yet. Rubenstein said they have been working to secure space and finalize schedules for the courses.

Cognitive programs will begin July 1, but those additional programs required under 457 aren’t expected to begin until October 1.

In the meantime, inmates are being assessed using what’s called a Level of Service Case Management Instrument, or LSCMI. The test determines which courses a particular inmate needs to be rehabilitated. It helps the inmate prepare for parole, but also helps the division.

“Really what this will do is, where before the inmate would request to go into every class because they wanted to look good in front of the parole board, this instrument will indicate what an individual needs and it will help us get inmates into the classes they need and cut down on waiting lists,” Rubenstein said.

As for the cost, last interim session Regional Jail Authority Director Joe DeLong reported to the committee that for a $600-700,000 investment putting DOC courses in the regional jails, the state could save upwards of $7-8 million from shortened prison sentences.

Rubenstein reported the division won’t be able to truly measure those cost savings for some time, but said he stands by those projections and believes the state is headed in the right direction.
 

Governor's Budget Allows for Private Prison Payments

During the Division of Corrections budget hearing, Commissioner Jim Rubenstein said the governor’s proposed budget for the division includes additional funding for provisions of Senate Bill 371, the governor’s prison reform bill. It includes increases for the transition of the Salem Industrial Home for Youth to the Salem Correctional Center.

“The Salem Correctional Center houses 388 male inmates and the funding that we received during the transfer from juvenile services was not sufficient to operate a 388 bed facility,” he said, “so, the governor has proposed the additional funding for us to operate that facility properly.”
 
Over the past few months, Rubenstein, the Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety and the governor’s office have been in talks with private, out-of-state prisons to help ease the state’s overcrowding issue.

Corrections Corporation of America, a Nashville based company, was the only organization to bid on housing the prisoners. Senator Bill Laird questioned if the Division’s budget included the cost of sending inmates to the Kentucky facility.  

“There’s a line item that’s only payments to Regional Jails and that line item now lifted that restriction,” Rubenstein said. “It’s basically an operational funding line to not only make the payments to the Regional Jails, but to allow us in other operational type areas.”

Rubenstein said it’s that line item change that would allow the Division to pay an out-of-state facility to house inmates.

CCA said in a bid they would charge West Virginia $59.80 per inmate per day, a number slightly below Rubenstein’s initial estimate. He told the committee he thought the daily rate would be in the mid-60s.

“Through the secretary’s office that figure is in the governor’s office and we don’t have word back yet whether there’s a green light to proceed or what that outcome will be,” he said.

After reports of a lockdown at the Lee Adjustment Center, the facility CCA bid to place West Virginia inmates in, Rubenstein said in a statement:

I am aware that a portion of the Lee Adjustment Center is on lock down due to alleged fights or assaults among the Vermont inmate population which is currently housed at this facility. The W.Va. Division of Corrections is looking into the specifics of what has occurred, why a lock down was initiated, what type of problems are they experiencing and how they are handling the investigations. It is critical to the WVDOC to examine the particulars of this current situation involving the Vermont inmates housed at the Lee Adjustment Center. No decision has been reached on whether W.Va. will move forward on the voluntary out of state placement of inmates, but we want to be assured all aspects and operations of this facility are in order before any type of movement would occur.

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