The Senate Budget, Appropriations and Finance Committee on Thursday reviewed the Bureau of Corrections’ proposed $36.4 million fiscal year 2027 budget, focusing on staffing shortages, incarceration costs and federal oversight requirements.
During the hearing, Bureau of Corrections Director Wynnie Testamark told lawmakers it costs the territory about $320 per day to house an inmate locally, compared with $89 per day through CoreCivic and $109 per day in Virginia facilities.
Senators pressed Testamark on why local incarceration costs are significantly higher than mainland rates. She said the gap reflects mandatory federal consent decree requirements, higher personnel costs, ongoing capital and safety projects, and vendor expenses such as off-island housing and food.
The bureau reported that as of June it had 351 people in custody, including 181 on island, with 70 at the Criminal Justice Complex on St. Thomas and 111 at John A. Bell Correctional Facility on St. Croix, and 170 off island, including 33 in Virginia and 137 in Mississippi.
Testamark said one of the bureau’s largest expenses remains housing and feeding inmates held off island, which was budgeted at $7.9 million in fiscal year 2025.
Beyond questions about cost, Sen. Franklin Johnson blasted how the government handles inmates housed on the mainland, citing cases where families only learned about a loved one’s death from other prisoners and one man was cremated before some relatives knew he had died. “This government will have to do a serious deep dive as to what’s going on with our prisoners on the mainland, because it’s a travesty as to what’s happening,” Johnson said.
Testamark said the Bureau of Corrections spent $340,000 on inpatient and outpatient services so far this fiscal year and has outstanding vendor payments for medical care totaling $1.2 million. She also said there are 39 outstanding vendor invoices totaling $3.8 million, with about $957,000 in the payment stage.
Despite payment delays, Testamark said services have continued without interruption. “All essential correctional services for inmates and staff have remained fully operational and uninterrupted,” she said.
The bureau has budgeted 223 positions for fiscal year 2027 but currently employs 154 people, leaving 69 vacancies. Correctional officers account for approximately 43% of the workforce.
Officials also warned that recruitment is lagging, saying about 30 employees are eligible to retire, seven have left in the current fiscal year and the bureau has not held a new correction officer class in about a year, with only one applicant currently awaiting admission.
Officials reported overtime expenditures of $5.2 million in fiscal year 2024, $4.8 million in fiscal year 2025 and $2.6 million as of June 8 in fiscal year 2026. Testamark attributed the decline to scheduling changes, technology improvements and lower inmate populations.
The hearing reviewed the bureau’s progress under two federal consent decrees covering St. Croix and St. Thomas. “The District Court of the Virgin Islands has granted the territory’s joint motion to terminate the medical provisions of the settlement agreement,” Testamark said, calling the decision a “significant milestone.”
She added that court-appointed monitors “reported continued progress across additional operational areas” and that the bureau remains under judicial oversight while it works toward sustained compliance.
Quality Assurance Manager Tamara McIntosh-George said provisional compliance has increased “from 55% to 66%,” with “115 points to be achieved for compliance” still remaining.
At John A. Bell Correctional Facility on St. Croix, officials said several major safety projects remain underway. Assistant Director Peter Abrahams said design work on a new perimeter fence is progressing, with full construction documents due by Dec. 15, 2026. Testamark said energy‑efficient perimeter lighting at John A. Bell is now 100% complete, and the bureau is working with engineers to review and refine draft designs for a new fire alarm and fire suppression system.
Testamark testified that mental health care is a major part of the system’s work, noting that “approximately 40% of inmates within the bureau facilities receive some form of mental health treatment.” Medical Director Dr. Linda Callwood told senators that “the services that the inmates … receive on the mainland is equal to that we provide here in the territory.”
Testamark said the bureau also shares a psychiatrist with other territorial agencies and supplements staffing through a private vendor, Indelible Management Solutions, which provides nurses, mental health counselors, physician assistants, nurse practitioners and social workers.
Asked what keeps her up at night, Testamark pointed to the limits of the territory’s behavioral health system, saying, “My biggest challenge again is taking care of the mentally ill that’s within our facilities.”
Testamark said a three-year cohort showed an 18.6% rearrest rate and added that the bureau operates a Dignity Bus and a Transitional Home as part of its reentry and community‑support efforts. She said the Dignity Bus is equipped with basic living and hygiene facilities and has served 85 people, while the Transitional Home has served 15. Some participants left early, she said, because living on correctional grounds can feel like an extension of incarceration.
Financial issues raised also included a dispute with Juan F. Luis Hospital over inmate medical costs. Testamark said bureau records show about $900,000 owed, while the hospital has claimed roughly $4 million. She said the hospital is reviewing the bureau’s documentation and verification of the discrepancy is still underway.
Lawmakers indicated they will continue scrutinizing staffing levels, facility upgrades, consent decree compliance and outstanding financial obligations as they move into markups of the bureau’s proposed fiscal year 2027 budget.
