The Comptroller of Puerto Rico issued a qualified opinion of the fiscal operations of the Department of Correction and Rehabilitation related to movable property and accounts receivable for improper salary payments. A qualified opinion is issued when noncompliances, individually or in the aggregate, are significant but not pervasive.
The Report reveals, from a sample of the 866 accounts receivable for $4.8 million, that for 66% the Second Collection Effort was not prepared and for 33% the effort was carried out up to 12 weeks late. In addition, the due date was not established on any of the invoices.
The Comptroller's auditors uncovered that the notifications to Finance of improper salary payments and the loss of a firearm were carried out with delays of up to 10 years. This situation is attributed to the lack of regulation on the matter.
The audit of two findings notes that not all of the 16 units that keep property in Correction submitted their inventories to the Department of Treasury for the years 2015 to 2018. For example, 14 units did not submit the physical inventory in 2015, 13 in 2016, and 11 in 2017 and 2018. In addition, in the inspections carried out, property was observed accumulated in the hallways because the Department did not have a warehouse to store the purchased property, the unassigned property, or property to be disposed of (see photos in Appendix 1 of the Report).
Contrary to the regulations in force, the Department of Correction notified the Office of the Comptroller of 19 incidents of losses and irregularities with delays of more than three years. The incidents are related to the appropriation, disappearance, break-in, theft, and robbery of firearms. A similar situation had been noted in Audit Report DA-12-47 of 2011.
The Report comments that Correction has $18 million pending payment for 70 lawsuits resolved in the Courts and $1.2 million following a 2012 judgment to a company that had offered services to the Administration of Juvenile Institutions.
The Department of Correction also has 577 lawsuits pending resolution for $383 million. The lawsuits are for assault, negligent search and seizure, unlawful imprisonment, institutional mistreatment, violation of the inmate's civil rights, workplace harassment, and other causes.
The Report covers the period from January 1, 2015 to December 31, 2018.
See Audit Report DA-20-12.
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