Playing on Someone Else's Team; Or Working on a Senate Subcommittee

This article appeared in the GAO Review, Vol. 15, Issue 3, Summer 1980. GAO auditors were detailed to assist the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations of the Committee on Governmental Affairs in an investigation involving allegations of corruption and improprieties at the Atlanta Penitentiary. The specific allegations under investigation were that corrupt prison employees had smuggled dope to inmates; inmates had been murdered because of lax security, widespread weapon and drug availability, and organized crime influence; employees had converted Government property to personal use; construction/maintenance funds and materials had been misappropriated and diverted to unauthorized purposes; and cases of medical malpractice had occurred. The GAO members examined prison records and interrogated former and current Atlanta penitentiary inmates and employees. Inmates admitted their involvement in drug trafficking within the Penitentiary and named employees who brought contraband to them. The investigation and hearings solved two inmate murders. No evidence was found concerning employees converting Government property to personal use, but conditions and controls over property, materials, and equipment were such that conversion might easily occur. Substantial flaws were found in the Penitentiary's construction and maintenance management systems which allowed officials to divert, misallocate, and misuse funds to office and residence renovations for themselves. Neither Congress nor the Bureau of Prisons had any assurance that funds provided the Atlanta Penitentiary had not resulted in waste, loss, or extravagance. Evidence presented at the hearings substantiated the allegations concerning inmate security, weapons availability, employee corruption, and property and financial management. Bureau of Prisons officials plan to close the Atlanta Penitentiary by 1985.