Gov. Tom Corbett’s proposed budget for 2012-13 was a real discussion starter. From cuts to higher education and changes to public welfare programs, there’s been no shortage of issues to dissect in the $27.14 billion spending plan.
But no segment of the administration’s fiscal document was more surprising than revelation that, after a more than a decade of consistent growth, the administration had decided to flat fund the Department of Corrections.
The agency is set to again receive an appropriation of $1.87 billion after trimming $100 million from its bottom line.
Yesterday, in an appearance before the Senate Appropriations Committee, Corrections Secretary John Wetzel told lawmakers that measures intended to control the inmate population, such an effort to improve how certain parole violators are handled, had helped stabilize the inmate population.
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