Prison Expansion: Program to Identify DOD Property for Prison Use Could Be Improved
GGD-90-110
Published: Sep 28, 1990. Publicly Released: Nov 05, 1990.
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Highlights
Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO determined whether the Commission on Alternative Utilization of Military Facilities and the Department of Defense (DOD) adequately considered military property for conversion to minimum security prisons as an alternative to new prison construction.
Recommendations
Matter for Congressional Consideration
| Matter | Status | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| Congress should consider adopting the provisions of S. 2884, by amending the Commission's enabling legislation to: (1) eliminate the limitation to minimum security prisons, thus encouraging the Commission to consider property for higher security prisons; and (2) make explicit the consideration of state and local government prison needs when military property is reviewed. |
Closed – Implemented
|
Congress amended enabling legislation in line with the recommendation. |
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Department of Defense | The Secretary of Defense should require that bases subject to closure be reported to the Commission as soon as a final decision on closure status has been made. |
Closed – Implemented
In November 1991, DOD instructed the services to report base closures to the Commission for review for the January 1992 report.
|
| Department of Defense | The Secretary of Defense should instruct the: (1) services to report to the Commission the excess property that has been reported to the General Services Administration (GSA); and (2) Army to report to the Commission its civilian property. |
Closed – Implemented
DOD has agreed to report to the Commission excess property that has been reported to GSA or is classified civilian. In November 1991, DOD instructed the services to report excess property that had been reported to GSA or is classified civilian.
|
| Commission on Alternative Utilization of Military Facilities | The Commission on Alternative Utilization of Military Facilities should establish controls to ensure that it receives and reviews all property survey forms completed by the services. |
Closed – Implemented
DOD instituted procedures to ensure it receives all surveys and distributes them to the reviewing agencies.
|
| Commission on Alternative Utilization of Military Facilities | The Commission on Alternative Utilization of Military Facilities should take steps to improve the property survey form to increase the likelihood of obtaining consistent and meaningful data. Actions to improve the property survey form would include redesigning it to eliminate ambiguous and open-ended questions, tailoring it to identify property for prison use, and pretesting it to identify and correct any other problems. |
Closed – Implemented
DOD revised the survey form and instructions to eliminate weaknesses GAO identified.
|
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Topics
Correctional facilitiesFacility managementFacility transferFederal advisory bodiesstate relationsInternal controlsMilitary facilitiesProposed legislationSite selectionFederal real property