$1.2M Building Bought By Corrections Now Abandoned

Press Release

Puerto Rico Comptroller's Office 

Translated from Spanish

A special report of the Comptroller of Puerto Rico reveals that the Puerto
Rico Corrections Administration has never used a building in Rio Piedras 
which it acquired on October 31, 2008 and which was federally funded to 
the tune of $1.2 million to create a social adaptation home for inmates. The 
building located at 873 Avenida Muñoz Rivera is vandalized, in a total state 
of neglect and is partially burned. This case demonstrates that there was no 
prior control as established by Act No. 230 for government operations and 
expenses are not made within the framework of utility and austerity...Fur-
thermore, with respect to this transaction the Administration could not su-
pply our evidence how auditors made the payment of attorney's fees of 
$13,114.

Additonally, the report notes that of the 9 contracts and 45 amendments for 
$ 34.7 million formalized from 2004 to 2008 for the construction of fences 
in correctional complexes in Bayamón, El Zarzal in Rio Grande and La Pica
in Jayuya, the Administration did not submit 22 amendments of $ 3.2 milli-
on to the Office of the Comptroller and neither did it maintain complete cons-
truction project records. This situation is contrary to Law 18 and Regulation
33 on registration of contracts.

The opinion of the Comptroller is partially adverse and covers the period 
from 1 July 2012 to 30 June 2015.


(Full report in Spanish is available here).