This is part of a series exploring aspects of Gov. Jim Doyle’s budget proposal.

Gov. Jim Doyle’s plan to privatize 130 health care jobs at the Department of Corrections as part of his proposed budget received mixed support Thursday from senators in both parties.

The new inmate health care proposal will cost the state an additional $13 million over the next two years while an earlier budget proposal’s had a price tag of an extra $28 million.

Doyle’s proposal will cut 25 percent of the prison’s healthcare jobs by 2007. This would terminate all health care jobs except nurses and mental-health workers.

If the health care jobs are privatized, the Department of Corrections will have to make contracts with outside health care providers in order to continue inmate care.

“There may be ways through private providers to get a higher level of quality and safety for less money and that’s something that should be looked at carefully,” Dan Leistikow, spokesperson for Doyle, said.

Many senators are worried a contract with a private provider will be more costly and problematic than simply having state employees perform inmate health care. One such instance is a health care contract through the Milwaukee Secure Detention Facility, which was canceled four months after beginning.

However, the Department of Corrections remains optimistic that initiating a contract with an outside provider will go well.

“We’re looking to contract with an outside provider that has expertise in volume so we have some economies of scale,” John Dipko, public information officer for the department, said. “Also, we have talked to a number of other states that have experienced a reduction from previous expense levels with their new contracts. It gives us optimism that we should do the same.”

Leistikow said he feels the same way and states that we do not need a health care unit at each correctional facility.

“If you think about it logically, having a health care facility at every prison just isn’t necessarily economical,” Leistikow said. “The DOC is in the business of prisons, not providing health care.”

Many senators are concerned this is simply a part of Doyle’s plan to cut 10,000 state jobs by 2010. Leistikow said that is a ridiculous claim, as the governor seeks to add jobs every chance he gets.

“Gov. Doyle, as he said in his budget speech, has added state employees wherever he can do so,” Leistikow said. “He’s added 50 employees in the Department of Corrections to provide additional drug and alcohol treatment. He wants to reduce the size of the state payroll but only do it in ways that make sense for taxpayers.”

In Doyle’s recent budget speech, along with plans for privatization, he announced additional funding for alcohol and drug treatment programs for inmates.

Through contracting with health care facilities, the Department of Corrections hopes to receive accreditation from the National Commission on Correctional Health care. In the past, the department has not lived up to the standards required by the Commission in order to earn accreditation.