Details about this story

• Source: San Francisco Chronicle
• Date: July 15, 2007
• URL: Read the story
• Bylines: Tom Chorneau , Todd Wallack
• Topics: State Government
• Data Types: State Data
• Description/Excerpt: Inmate overcrowding and the increasing number of staff vacancies in California's prisons are spiking overtime costs for the state's corrections department, which spent more than half a billion dollars last year on overtime pay, according to a Chronicle analysis of payroll records. The surge -- a 35 percent increase from the agency's overtime bill in 2005 -- comes as the department prepares for a major expansion of the prison system that state lawmakers hope will improve conditions and satisfy federal judges who are poised to impose a population cap on the system and potentially release thousands of inmates early. An analysis by The Chronicle found that almost 15 percent of the department's 56,000-member workforce earned at least $25,000 in overtime in the last calendar year -- more than eight times the amount paid to the average state worker over the same period.