Review of Two Issues at the Long-Term Commitment Facilities, Department of Juvenile Justice: 1)Safety Threat to Employees & Juveniles; and 2)Event Reporting Process Integrity Allegations

The Legislative Oversight Committee of the South Carolina House of Representatives, referred allegations pertaining to the Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) which were generated during its ongoing oversight study of DJJ. Specifically, the safety issues focused on lack of control; lack of trust; and lack of adequate staffing. This review’s scope and objectives were: Investigate specific complainant allegations of DJJ employees underreporting, misreporting, or destroying ERs; Review the efficiency and effectiveness of DJJ’s event reporting process and follow-up on anomalies or potential patterns of systemic underreporting, misreporting, or missing ERs; and Assess juvenile and employee safety conditions through interviewing a cross-section of relevant employees, record review, and possibly an employee survey.

A review of the South Carolina Transportation Infrastructure Bank

Members of the General Assembly asked the Legislative Audit Council to review the operations of the South Carolina Transportation Infrastructure Bank, a state agency that awards grants and loans to local and state agencies primarily for large transportation construction projects. The primary audit objectives were to review compliance with state law and policies regarding: The awarding of grants and loans for transportation construction projects ; The use of project revenues and whether funds dedicated to specific projects have been comingled with funds dedicated to other projects ;• Proper accounting and reporting procedures ; The process for repayment of revenue bonds ; Hiring of consultants, attorneys, and bond credit rating agencies ; Ethics.

Review of the Community Residential Care Facilities Program, Department of Health and Environmental Control

This review was predicated on a credible complaint alleging substantial health and safety deficiencies in the care of a resident placed in a Community Residential Care Facility (CRCF) in Kershaw County, South Carolina. Initial investigation with subject matter experts, non-profit advocacy groups, and CRCF inspection reports revealed this single incident might be a symptom of systemic health and safety deficiencies throughout DHEC’s CRCF Program, which regulates 471 CRCFs with the approximately 17,000 vulnerable clients, primarily elderly and disabled. This review’s scope and objectives were: Assess the risk of a vulnerable population of elderly and disabled citizens residing in CRCFs living in unsatisfactory health and safety conditions; Evaluate DHEC’s CRCF Program inspection process capabilities to identify and address CRCFs with unsatisfactory health and safety living conditions; Recommend opportunities to improve the CRCF Program.