Ripping off L.A. inmates

The corporation that runs the inmate stores at Los Angeles County's jails underpaid the county nearly $650,000 in profits while wining and dining Sheriff's Department employees, County Reporter Troy Anderson reports in toda's Daily News.
Compass Group USA Inc., which does business as Canteen Services, improperly spent $640,213 from 1999 to 2005 that should have instead been spent on inmate services, according to a report by Auditor-Controller Tyler McCauley.
The expenses included travel costs for Compass employees, meals and entertainment, along with $169,465 for "client hospitality," McCauley wrote.
The same audit also questioned why Compass contributed $304,291 to the sheriff's Youth Foundation - a crime-prevention program designed to reduce recidivism - and paid $147,233 to the Sheriff's Department for retirement parties, golf tournaments and the Baker-to-Vegas relay, the annual long-distance run in which Sheriff Lee Baca and other law enforcement officials participate.
The audit drew immediate criticism from taxpayer advocates, who questioned whether sheriff's employees are complying with the county's Political Reform Act.