Managing Maintenance and Construction in New York State

Frank Sheridan is director of Correctional Services, Facilities Planning, and Development for the New York Department of Correctional Services (NYDCS). He received a Bachelor of Architecture from Pratt Institute, School of Architecture in 1963, worked in the private sector until 1982, and joined the department where he has worked for almost 20 years. New York state has more than 70 correctional facilities, ranging from maximum-security institutions that are nearly 200 years old to new drug treatment and boot-camp “shock” incarceration programs. Mr. Sheridan was generous enough to talk with Correctional News about his facilities and about maintenance issues within complex and varied environments.

Joe De Patta: Can you tell us what your responsibilities are as facilities director for New York state? How many facilities do you oversee?

Frank Sheridan: I’ve always said, “if you have to explain what you do, you probably shouldn’t be doing it.” I hope that’s not the case here.

Director of Correctional Services, Facilities Planning, and Development is my official title and I’ve been in this position almost 20 years. Our office currently is responsible for 71 correctional facilities. That includes more than 3,000 buildings totaling approximately 34 million square feet of space.

I call an institution’s maintenance operations the “quiet resource.” We work with Road to Reliability to keep the equipment and the physical plant running and operational. When one of them fails, the noise is deafening. We work around the clock to prevent equipment failures and maintain the facilities. I’m proud of our department and I know we are doing a good job.

JD: What’s the size of your staff and your annual budget?

FS: Our annual capital budget is approximately $150 million, which is provided by the Division of Budgets. Overall, the department has a budget of approximately $2.2 billion. In Facilities Planning and Development we have 24 technical, planning, and budget staff and six support staff for a total of 30 people in my office.

JD: How are maintenance funds allocated?

FS: Funding for maintenance activities are included in the department’s annual operating budget. There are two budgets in the Department of Correctional Services: an operating budget and a capital budget. The capital budget is for rehabilitation and new projects and new construction. The operating budget is for everything else. Buying equipment comes out of the maintenance budget within the operating budget. The departments of Budget and Finance control the spending of the operating budget and we control the spending of the capital budget.

JD: What’s the average age of a prison in your state?

FS: Old. We have a lot of old prisons and we have some new ones. The oldest, Auburn, was built in 1817 and is still operating as a maximum-security prison. Sing-Sing was built in 1825-that is, the first buildings were built in 1825 and it still operates as a maximum-security prison. We also just finished a new prison in 2000, another maximum-security institution. So we have a combination of both old and new facilities.

JD: What’s the ratio of old prisons to new?

FS: When I got this job 20 years ago we had 28 prisons. We now have 71 so we’ve built almost 50 prisons in 20 years.

JD: In what kinds of conditions are the facilities?

FS: Most of our facilities are in good condition. The older ones like Auburn and Sing-Sing-the maximum security places-they require more attention. They are the ones in most need of maintenance and upkeep.

During the 80s and 90s we constructed a number of prototype facilities. These were medium-security prisons so they were built with bricks and mortar and sheet rock. They were not constructed of materials you would use in maximum-security prisons and they are now showing their age. The department deals with aging infrastructure in several ways. We use capital dollars for large preservation-type projects, such as the replacement of entire heating systems, electrical switchgear and feeder cables, and underground water and sewer utilities. We also control the minor rehab budget, which includes projects up to $50,000. These projects, as the name indicates, are rehabilitative in nature, and include renovating toilet rooms, showers, lights, and other things performed by the facility’s maintenance staff.

For minor, uncomplicated jobs at the prisons, we give staff the money and they do the work themselves. Projects that are complicated like electrical switchgear and boiler plants, we give to OGS to design and build. OGS is our Office of General Services. They hire consultants, architects, and engineers for most of the work.

Additionally, we have approximately $15 million in capital funds each year that resulted from Maintenance of Capital Assets legislation in 1992. These funds are utilized in several different ways, the most notable being to fund term service contracts for the mechanical equipment.

JD: What are your biggest maintenance issues?

FS: Our biggest issue is probably recruiting and training qualified staff in plant maintenance and operations. A lot of the new technologies require specialized skills that are beyond the average maintenance employee’s training, be it electronics, boilers, or security systems.

Difficulties arise when we try to financially compete with the private sector in hiring the limited numbers of trained individuals. For instance, private industry pays pretty well and the state pay scale sometimes cannot compete when we’re looking for engineers for our intruder alarm systems, infrared systems, locking devices, and all the new technologies out there.

JD: How do you prioritize maintenance issues?

FS: Life safety issues for the staff and inmates are paramount. Obviously, security issues are a very, very close second. Third would include construction and maintenance of infrastructure to support existing programs. All else follows.

JD: What kinds of maintenance programs do you currently have in place? Is there a trend toward formal preventive maintenance programs?

FS: We have a computerized preventive maintenance program in place at each of our facilities. Computer software schedules daily work activities, tracks inventory, and produces preventive maintenance activities.

We use a total maintenance management program provided by DataStream. Within the program is a step-by-step set of instructions-a task that is set up by the most experienced person, the staff member most familiar with equipment or procedure. Inputting the data is the most difficult and time-consuming part of the process.

This system is definitely a new trend in preventive maintenance and we got involved with it more than 10 years ago. Our facilities have always performed these activities through what was know as the “card system,” which was basically information updated on index cards. It was slow and time consuming. With the advent of the personal computer, paperwork and management of this function has been greatly improved and formalized. We are now better equipped to manage maintenance than ever before.

We also are concentrating on providing access to all programs for physically-challenged inmates, as well as working towards environmental issues and energy conservation. We are renovating our power plants and water treatment facilities to meet the latest federal and state air and water quality standards. Along with that, we are studying ways to reduce our energy consumption by 35 percent by 2010.

Our governor is very environmentally aware. He figures the state can’t sue an industry for polluting the environment unless we are doing all we can to address our own conservation issues.

JD: Has New York ever considered privatized maintenance?

FS: There are inherent problems with the concept of privatized maintenance in a correctional setting and it’s difficult to explain to people who are not familiar with a correctional system. As a generality, when most things break, they need to be fixed immediately. Due to safety and security concerns, we cannot rely on a maintenance contract that provides for a guaranteed 24-hour response time, 12-hour response time, or even a two-hour response time. We need maintenance personnel there at a moment’s notice. While I’m sure we could structure an airtight contract that provided for this type of service coverage, it could certainly be very cost prohibitive.

JD: Have you had any maintenance-related emergencies? How were they resolved?

FS: Our office has 24/7 coverage to handle emergencies relating to the physical plant. Emergencies always seem to happen at 2 a.m. and when it’s 20 below zero.

I have five staff members-all former facility supervisors who have expertise in a variety of emergency situations-on a scheduled rotation. They carry a beeper so when they are notified of a problem somewhere within the state, they get right on it. They call the facility to find out about the problem and call in the necessary help-OGS contractors for instance-and monitor the progress of the situation.

We also have a fleet of equipment and a chart that tells us where all the portable generators, boilers, water pumps, and light towers are strategically located throughout the state. A lot of our emergency situations are weather-related and we can access the necessary equipment quickly and have it moved on-site. Formal emergency procedures, contacts, etc., are all documented and used in the event of an emergency. Additionally, we have at our disposal contractors and engineers in every county of the state that we can authorize to respond to and effect repairs immediately if the work is beyond our capabilities.

JD: Have your construction needs changed in the past few years?

FS: No. We will always need the standard building products, bricks and mortar, as well as the high-tech security systems, fire systems, and others. Our major need-which has never changed-is to find newer and better products that perform basic functions at a lower cost.

To that end, we have formulated a Product Review Committee. It consists of members from all facets of corrections: MIS, security, management, as well as people from other disciplines. I work with people in my office to oversee the committee, which meets the first Monday of every month. We talk about what we need, why we need it, and kick around a lot of ideas. Suppliers come to the meetings and present products to us and we evaluate them in the field at the manufacturer’s expense. For instance, we need different degrees of glazing so we test clear, shatterproof, bulletproof, and one-hour rated to get a good, on-the-job evaluation. We test different products at different sites.

JD: Do you have any advice for suppliers and companies that would like to be involved in these prison projects?

FS: We are always glad to hear from suppliers who have innovative products to offer us.

We use the New York State Office of General Services Design and Construction group to perform the majority of our capital construction projects. We would encourage anyone interested in being a supplier, contractor, or design consultant to contact the OGS. They also supply publications, like Empire State Builder, which will help identify various statewide projects.

JD: Glenn Goord, the commissioner for the Department of Corrections in New York, has predicted the state will have 6,600 fewer inmates next year. How does that affect your role?

FS: Overall, this reduction in inmates does not affect us. It means we will have fewer inmates housed in double bunks, which were specifically installed to handle the large number of inmates sentenced to state custody. Through the construction of new correctional facilities, we have “right-sized” the system.

Governor Pataki’s “right-sizing” project is expected to lead to a nine- percent decrease in the inmate population by April 2002. All the reduction will be among nonviolent offenders. We had an inmate population of more than 71,000 in early 2000 but that is projected to drop to around 64,000.

Right-sizing is the governor’s policy of lengthening sentences and eliminating discretionary parole for violent offenders. That policy is coupled with alternative programs allowing selected nonviolent offenders to leave prison prior to completion of their court-set minimum sentences.

One focus of the policy is to ensure that we have cells available to house an increased number of violent offenders. Our expansion of 4,950 beds in the last three years is the largest cell expansion in state history.

JD: New York Gov. Pataki has proposed no new construction for 2001, but has requested $238 million for repairs and upgrades. How does this affect your department?

FS: While we have no new correctional facilities planned, the maintenance and upkeep of our 71 facilities will keep us very busy. The funding we receive from the governor’s executive budget each year is used to repair buildings-structural envelopes and buildings only last so long. Plumbing, electrical, and mechanical systems wear out so we are currently focusing on maintaining and upgrading those systems.

JD: How much construction has been done in the last several years?

FS: We have constructed two new, state-of-the-art, 1,500-bed maximum-security correctional facilities. Additionally, we added eight new high-security cellblocks to existing facilities around the state. We have also built a number of regional medical units and primary care centers for improved health care within the system.

JD: Along those lines, what are your plans for special needs facilities, such as mental health units and housing for juvenile offenders?

FS: As part of the medical improvements previously mentioned, we have provided a number of improved mental health buildings as well.

Juvenile detainees in New York state are the responsibility of the Office of Children and Family Services.

With regard to women incarcerated in New York, we take great care to provide for their special needs. We supply physical elements like taller cubicle partitions and other measures to ensure their privacy, in addition to designing and constructing new maternity facilities in one of our new regional medical units; we just opened one in Bedford this past year.

JD: Do you have any programs in place to deal with geriatric units?

FS: Yes. Again, as part of the improvements to our health care facilities, we have taken into account the aging inmate population.

With regard to the location of these inmates, there is no one facility designated solely for them. They are spread throughout the system based upon their needs. For instance, if the inmate has a specialized medical need, he/she would be located at a facility capable of providing for that need. If the inmate had mobility issues, those would be addressed. We have found that healthy, older inmates who stay in general population have a tendency to stabilize the younger inmates.

JD: Are there any programs unique to New York?

FS: The Department of Correctional Services has implemented Shock Incarceration-or boot camp-programs. We also have many alcohol and substance abuse programs and a court appointed special sentencing facility known as the Willard Drug Treatment Center. The facility is targeted directly at those inmates who have substance abuse problems and allows many offenders to undergo 90 days of intensive drug treatment instead of serving an average of nine months in a general confinement prison.