Audit shows theft via prison computer

FRANKFORT -- An inmate apparently tampered with a state computer and assigned extra money to the commissary accounts of 21 inmates, state Auditor Crit Luallen said Tuesday.

The alleged theft, which took place from January 2007 to January 2008, totaled $6,877, Luallen said Tuesday during a news conference.

She said the investigation started after an anonymous caller used the auditor's public hotline -- 1-800-KYALERT -- to question labor reimbursements for inmates in the Kentucky Correctional Industries program.

Luallen's office worked with the state Department of Corrections to examine the agency's inmate payroll processing system.

The industries program is at the state reformatory in LaGrange and houses six industrial plants employing 175 inmates. Their salaries range from 25 cents an hour to $200 a month, depending on the work performed.

KCI is a self-supporting division of the state corrections department that produces goods and services in state prisons. Their products range from furniture to embroidery.

Luallen referred her audit to the state police for further investigation.

For a complete copy of her report, click here .

--Jack Brammer

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Comments

[clay]

Just one more breakdown in the correctional system as a result of trying to cut costs.

[PrisonersShouldPay]

They better make those thieving inmates pay back the money they stole - make them work and garnish their wages, and certainly don't grant them parole until they've paid it all back.

[Critter Luellun]

Any truth to the rumor that the only reason Crit looked into this is because the prisoner is a Republican?