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Audit Finds Improvements, Shortcomings At Tennessee Department Of Corrections

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Two years ago, an audit found that Tennessee Department of Corrections officers were turning in paperwork showing that they were conducting regular check-up visits to 82 parolees under their supervision.

The problem? The 82 parolees in question were dead.

Auditors also found that regular visits to living parolees weren't being conducted regularly, and there was no strong system for supervisors to keep tabs on officer parole visits.

The audit's discoveries led to a legislative hearing and an order to state corrections officials: Fix the problems within a year before auditors check back in for a new assessment. The results of the follow-up audit were released this week, and the authors note both improvements and problems.

The dead parolees have been purged from DOC rolls, and officers are no longer spending tax dollars pretending to check in on them. The review also complimented a program that tracks inmates who are required to complete programs as a condition of their release.

But the audit said parole officers are still falling short on conducting follow-up visits with paroled inmates, and that DOC supervisors aren't doing enough to keep tabs on officers to make sure they carry out their supervisory functions.

In testimony before a state House panel in 2012, then-DOC Commissioner Derrick Schofield told lawmakers that officers may have been overtaxed by the amount of work placed on them. The Nashville Tennessean reported corrections officials are still struggling to balance demands and duties that are placed on the state's parole officers.