COLUMBUS — The state is withholding part of its monthly payment to a private company running a state prison because of concerns about the company's staffing levels.

        The Department of Rehabilitation and Correction is deducting $74,499 from its next monthly payment to Marlboro, Mass.-based CiviGenics, which runs North Coast Correctional Treatment Facility in Grafton.

        The state said CiviGenics didn't meet minimum staffing levels for alcohol and drug treatment programs between April and November in the 21-month, $14.9 million contract with the company.

        In effect, the state said in a memo to warden Robert Clark last month, CiviGenics billed the state “for staff that were not employed.”

        Joe Andrews, a prisons department spokesman, said he didn't think the billing was an attempt to defraud the state.

        “I think this is something we're going to continue to watch and monitor,” he said. “The contract speaks to the methods of regaining that money, and we're going to follow the contract.”

        Ray Ross, a CiviGenics spokesman, could not be reached. A message was left seeking comment.

        The minimum-security pris on was built to house felony drunken-driving offenders and other inmates who have histories of alcohol or drug abuse.

        Some residents and lawmakers are upset that the prison also is housing some violent offenders. The state says about 12 percent of the prison's population have drunken driving convictions, but all inmates have problems with drug or alcohol abuse that led to their arrest.

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