REPORT DIGEST

DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS

COMPLIANCE EXAMINATION
FOR THE TWO YEARS ENDED June 30, 2024

Release Date:  September 23, 2025

FINDINGS THIS AUDIT: 40

CATEGORY:  NEW -- REPEAT – TOTAL
Category 1:  2 -- 4 -- 6
Category 2:  11 -- 23 -- 34
Category 3:  0 -- 0 -- 0
TOTAL:  13 -- 27 -- 40

FINDINGS LAST AUDIT: 46

State of Illinois, Office of the Auditor
General
FRANK J. MAUTINO, AUDITOR GENERAL

To obtain a copy of the Report contact:
Office of the Auditor General, 400 West
Monroe, Suite 306, Springfield, IL
62704-9849
(217) 782-6046 or TTY (888) 261-2887

This Report Digest and Full Report are also
available on the worldwide web at
www.auditor.illinois.gov

SYNOPSIS

• (24-2) The Department did not properly
maintain its commodity and commissary
inventory.

• (24-4) The Department failed to
appropriately notify the appropriate parties
of residency of persons on parole and
mandatory supervised release.

• (24-16) The Department allowed employees
to use leave time for their regular shift
and then work  another shift at an overtime
rate on the same day.

• (24-40) The Department failed to report
individuals’ progress under the extended
supervision of sex offender requirements of
the Unified Code of Corrections.

FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS

INADEQUATE MAINTENANCE OF COMMODITY AND
COMMISSARY INVENTORY

The Department of Corrections (Department)
did not properly maintain its commodity and
commissary inventory.

During our commodity and commissary
inventory testing at five correctional
centers, we noted the following:

?	Stateville Correctional Center did
not enter into the accounting system the
general commodity inventory items received
or issued during Fiscal Year 2023 and 2024.
As a result, the center failed to provide a
complete and accurate population of items
held in inventory on June 30, 2023, and
2024.

?	Twelve of 60 (20%) inventory items
selected from inventory records did not
agree with physical test counts, resulting
in a net variance of $15,407.

?	Ten of 60 (17%) inventory items
observed for physical test counts while
touring inventory locations did not agree
with the inventory records, resulting in a
net variance of $4,027.

?	We tested 13 items with inventory
balances exceeding $5,000 which appeared to
be overstocked as of June 30, 2024, and
noted Stateville and Danville Correctional
Centers held more than one year’s supply of
inventory for 5 (38%) items with an excess
amount of $165,679. (Finding 2, pages 15-16)

We recommended the Department improve its
centralized oversight function related to
inventory to allow for adequate controls,
compliance with procedures and rules, as
well as provision of guidance, reminders,
and assistance to the Center’s staff. We
also recommended the Department ensure staff
are adequately trained on inventory policies
and procedures, to ensure inventory and
records are properly maintained.

Department management accepted the
recommendation and noted the Correctional
Centers are required to count inventory at
the end of each month and reconcile
inventory records to physical counts at that
time. Management further stated the auditors
counted samples of inventory during the
month in most cases, which caused the
discrepancies since the inventory was
actively being received and/or sold.
Management also stated staff have been
trained on the use of the ERP system in the
Stateville and Danville locations.

In an accountant’s comment, we noted the
inventory exceptions were communicated to
the Centers and Department at the time of
testing, but they were unable to provide
support to resolve these discrepancies.

FAILURE TO PROVIDE OFFENDER RESIDENT
INFORMATION TO APPROPRIATE PARTIES

The Department failed to appropriately
notify the appropriate parties of residency
of persons on parole and mandatory
supervised release.

The Department was unable to provide the
population of persons on parole or mandatory
supervised release who became a resident of
a facility licensed or regulated by the
Departments of Public Health (DPH),
Healthcare and Family Services, or Human
Services. Therefore, we were unable to test
whether notifications of residence to police
chiefs and sheriffs occurred. As of June 30,
2024, the Department had a total of 15,185
individuals on parole or mandatory
supervised release.  This finding has been
reported since 2020. (Finding 4, pages
19-20)

We recommended the Department implement
measures to identify individuals subject to
notification requirements and to report
required information to the appropriate
parties as soon as possible. We also
recommended the Department seek legislative
remedy if the mandated timeframe for
notification is deemed unreasonable.

Department officials accepted the
recommendation and stated they are unable to
provide the mandated information within the
3-day turnaround time because they are
rarely notified within this time frame that
a person on parole has become a resident of
a DPH licensed or regulated facility. The
Department also stated they asked for a
mandate revision during Fall 2024, but it
was not allowed to proceed.

TAKING PAID LEAVE TIME AND WORKING OVERTIME
ON THE SAME DAY

The Department allowed employees to use
leave time for their regular shift and then
work another shift at an overtime rate on
the same day.
For Fiscal Year 2024, 2,958,142 hours of
overtime were paid at a cost of
$151,734,099.

We reviewed overtime payments for 20
employees and noted 16 employees (80%) had a
total of 150 instances in two years in which
they used a full day of benefit time the
same day they also worked overtime. This
finding was first reported in 2014. (Finding
16, pages 43-44)

We recommended the Department monitor the
use of leave time being used on the same day
as overtime is worked and comply
with its training manual by not allowing
employees to work overtime on the same day
that a full day of leave time is also used.

The Department responded that the
recommendation has been implemented, then
stated it follows policy by not allowing
employees to work overtime on the same shift
for which benefit time was used, since the
overtime would occur during their absence.
The Department also stated it plans to
revise the Manual to explicitly state the
circumstances where the policy applies.
Management further noted union agreement
requirements to exhaust all efforts to seek
volunteers to work overtime prior to
mandating employee overtime. Finally, the
Department stated that if it excludes
offering overtime occurring on a shift other
than the shift for which benefit time was
used to volunteers, it would violate the
union agreement and result in a higher cost
to the State.

In an accountant’s comment, we noted that
management contended in their finding
response that the Manual only prohibits an
employee from working overtime during the
hours an employee is on leave.  Since 2014,
the Department has accepted the
recommendation to “comply with its training
manual by not allowing employees to work
overtime on the same day that a full day of
leave time is also used”. The Department
also issued a directive in 2016 that
“employees who utilize a full shift of pre-
approved benefit time off on their regularly
assigned shift shall not be eligible for an
overtime offering for [n]either the
preceding shift nor the following shift.”

The accountant’s comment also stated the
Department did not provide documentation of
their current position in sufficient time to
allow us to test and fully evaluate the
Department’s claims in response to the
finding which are inconsistent with
documentation examined regarding the
allowability of overtime pay on the same day
that leave time is taken.

NONCOMPLIANCE WITH EXTENDED SUPERVISION OF
SEX OFFENDER REQUIREMENTS OF THE UNIFIED
CODE OF CORRECTIONS

The Department failed to report individuals’
progress under the extended supervision of
sex 	offender requirements.
During Fiscal Years 2023 and 2024, 695
individuals were released under extended
mandatory supervision of sex offender
requirements. We noted for all 60 (100%)
individuals tested, the Department was
unable to provide support for the submission
of the required progress reports to the
chief of police, or sheriff in the
municipality or county in which the offender
resides and is registered. This finding has
been reported since 2020. (Finding 40, pages
87-88)

We recommended the Department train
responsible staff and implement internal
controls to ensure the submission of the
required progress reports to the chief of
police or sheriff in the
municipality or county in which the offender
resides and is registered. We further
recommended the Department pursue
legislative change if they do not believe
the statutory requirement is reasonable and
appropriate.

The Department responded the recommendation
has been implemented and stated it sent
progress reports during the examination
period but did not retain emails or delivery
receipt for hand deliveries. Management
stated that going forward, Parole Agents are
notating delivery in the case management
system and email is now saved.

OTHER FINDINGS

The remaining findings pertain to receipts,
statutory mandates, information technology,
personnel, expenditures, property, and
vehicles. We will review the Department’s
progress towards the implementation of our
recommendations in our next State compliance
examination.

ACCOUNTANT’S OPINION

The accountants conducted a State compliance
examination of the Department for the two
years ended June 30, 2024, as required by
the Illinois State Auditing Act.  The
accountants qualified their report on State
compliance for Findings 2024-001 through
2024-006 individually and Findings 2024-012,
2024-021 through 2024-024, 2024-026 through
2024-028, 2024-030, 2024-033, 2024-034,
2024-039, 2024-040 in the aggregate.  Except
for the noncompliance described in these
findings, the accountants stated the
Department complied, in all material
respects, with the requirements described in
the report.

This State compliance examination was
conducted by Adelfia LLC.

COURTNEY DZIERWA
Division Director

This report is transmitted in accordance
with Section 3-14 of the Illinois State
Auditing Act.

FRANK J. MAUTINO
Auditor General

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