DOC staff shortage causes dangerous work environment, employees say

The state is short 700 correction officers. That’s nearly an 8th of what it would need to be considered ‘fully staffed.’ ABC 17 News talked to officers who work at Tipton Correctional Center who say if an emergency or attack were to happen right now, they’d feel helpless.

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Over “the last few months, we’ve lost a lot of employees. Like, a lot,” said one staff member. “It is a safety issue for sure again, everyone everyone in the camp has these issues.”

On the night of July 4, corrections officials called it a “minor disturbance” when some inmates refused to return to their housing units. The inmates eventually caused some property damage.

Three corrections officers at T.C.C. agreed to tell ABC 17 News about the incident under the condition of anonymity. They said the incident on July 4, was much more serious than the department communicated.

One inmate said, “They started basically, in my opinion, rioting. They started breaking things, tearing things apart. They even got on our intercom system and started yelling things…”

The officers said the housing unit was destroyed by the end of the incident, and for the safety of the staff, the unit was evacuated by the corrections officers for hours.

“All 8 in the 2 zones, zones 3 and 4, they were all taken over by the offenders because they were told to evacuate. The officers were told to evacuate the housing units.”

The resulting modified lockdown status lasted for days and was extended due to the ongoing staffing shortfall.

The 2018 turnover rate for employees of the Missouri Department of Corrections stands at 26.8 percent.

“The staffing gets worse everyday because people are leaving, and they’re leaving in droves,” a corrections officer said. “The people who come through the academy, they quit before they even get out on their post. And there you go; you got nobody.”

ABC 17 News learned there are several contributing factors to the department’s difficulty hiring and retaining employees.

The most glaring is the pay scale. Recent data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows Missouri jail staffers are the second lowest paid in the nation, just above Mississippi. Another challenge to recruitment is an abundance of alternatives. Missouri’s unemployment rate remains below the national average at 3.5%. There are plenty of private-sector jobs that are more lucrative, and less dangerous than that of a corrections officer.

The staffing shortage leads to forced overtime. Each year, the department spends about 6 million dollars just in overtime pay.

“For a lot of us, 16 hour shifts are a regular occurrence and very few officers want to work 16 hours every single day,” said another officer. “It’s to the point where I can realistically get forced to work overtime every single day. If not every day sometimes, 3 To 4 times a week.”

State Rep. Jim Hansen is a key member of the House Corrections Committee. He was also chair of the sub committee that investigated the D.O.C. workplace environment in 2017.

Hansen said, “It’s a major issue. Corrections officers have to work back-to-back-shifts constantly and we’re short-handed and then it creates a dangerous situation for everybody involved.”

That “dangerous situation” is something with which some corrections officers said they’re all too familiar.

“A lot of times, when you’re 14-and-a-half hours into a shift and something happens, like a fight or a medical emergency, it’s difficult to respond correctly or on time,” said an officer. “I don’t even feel that the people they’re holding over would be able to respond if something did happen. When I’m in a house, I pretty much feel like I’m being paid to be a hostage.”

A D.O.C. spokesperson said there is a list of initiatives underway to boost recruitment and retention. The list includes:

Active recruiting on social media, Targeted digital ads on cell phone apps and browsers, Paid recruitment incentives for current staff who bring in new employees, Video testimonials and profiles, Billboards in targeted areas, An apprenticeship program for high school students, Recruitment of returning and retired military personnel, Reduction of the offender population at prisons with the lowest staffing levels, Training program to enable probation/parole staff to work shifts as custody officers and Participation in the state government LinkedIn program

In late 2017, the state partnered with the Council of State Governments on an initiative to examine the state’s criminal justice system.

Hansen said there is no way around getting state employee pay raises into the next budget. However the problem is solved, everyone involved who spoke to ABC 17 News agrees that something needs to be done, and soon.

“It’s a major challenge on how we do this and we’re going to have to think out of the box,” Hansen said. “We’re at the edge here where we really need to act.”

A corrections officer said, “Every day i go into work, I used to be happy coming in and excited. Now, I’m scared. I’m walking in and I’m like, ‘Well, here we go. What’s going to happen tonight?'”

ABC 17 News has received numerous emails, calls and messages from viewers about other problems they want investigated. Our journalists will continue to investigate the Tipton Correctional Center and the Department of Corrections.

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