By Dale Denwalt
Enid News & Eagle
ENID, Okla. — Administrators from at least one area prison sent officers home last week to save money, according to an organization that represents corrections employees.
The decision at Alva’s Bill Johnson Correctional Center was an effort to cut overtime costs, which this year have topped more than $100,000 per month for some state prisons. The figures at BJCC, according to an overtime report obtained by the Enid News & Eagle, were nearly $62,000 in August alone.
Oklahoma Corrections Professionals Executive Director Sean Wallace said the cutbacks are happening at almost every state facility, and the people he represents at BJCC are “basically freaking out” because fewer prison guards on duty could make situations there more dangerous.
“They’re saying the bottom line is more important to the agency than their (safety),” Wallace said.
Jerry Massie, public information officer for the DOC, said he wouldn’t respond to Wallace’s “alarmist” comments. He did say, however, the agency doesn’t have a lot of money to spend and makes the best use of available resources.
He could not immediately confirm specific staffing figures about BJCC, or public prisons in Helena and Fort Supply.
Spread thin
A former correctional officer who worked at an area prison said that sometime this year, administration at the prison put a cap of no more than 13 officers per 12-hour shift. That policy means that just one officer can be responsible for watching more than 200 prisoners.
If there’s a lack of uniformed officers on a particular shift, he said, qualified case managers and other nine-to-fivers could be called up to help.
“It’s a morale-killer for them because they don’t want to do it. It takes them away from their primary duty of making sure the offenders’ files are being taken care of and all the other issues they deal with,” the former guard said.
Massie confirmed that it’s not unusual for white-collar prison employees to help out with security.
“Everybody at a prison does security,” he said, which can include simply watching out for illegal activity.
Aside from saving overtime costs, he said the cutbacks have changed how prisoners and officers behave.
“The inmates, they know they can get away from stuff. They can run from us more often than when I started,” said the former guard, who asked to remain anonymous because he may want to work for the agency again.
With fewer guards on duty, there are fewer guards who can help quell a fight or search an inmate suspected of carrying contraband.
“If you put yourself in our shoes, knowing that there’s maybe one person who can respond if you’re not tied up somewhere else, are you going to go out searching for the crimes and rule violations that the inmates are committing?” he said.
Labor pool drained
The guard left DOC for a better-paying job, but the main reason he quit was because of the situation.
“It’s getting extremely dangerous there and I don’t see the administration locally or down in (Oklahoma City) doing anything to mitigate the risks,” he said. “We don’t get compensated enough to be put in that much danger and risk.”
That’s an argument DOC knows all too well. In a speech to Enid Noon AMBUCS in January 2014, James Crabtree Correctional Center Warden Janet Dowling said it’s hard to find people to work at a prison.
At that time, the Oklahoma Legislature authorized her to employ 212 full-time workers. Because of budget restraints, however, she could only have 145 staff members.
Dowling told AMBUCS that her correctional officers were working 20 hours of mandatory overtime per week.
“I can tell you my staffing level on the best days is 15 on the day shift and 12 on the night shift to watch 1,010 inmates. Recruitment and retention are a very large challenge for us,” she said.
Massie said that even if the agency had the funds to hire more officers, it’s hard to find them.
“It’s not as easy as just saying we need 100 more officers and going out to hire them tomorrow. That’s not a particularly reasonable expectation,” he said.
DOC has struggled with recruiting, hiring and retaining in an already high-turnover profession.
“We have done a number of things to enhance recruiting. Some people just can’t get past the idea of working in a prison,” Massie said.
On top of that, he added, high-paying oilfield jobs have drained the labor pool in small rural towns where the prisons are located.
In October, the Board of Corrections decided to request an increase of $14.5 million to retain and recruit staff. The request includes a 7-percent salary increase for all levels of correctional officers, with a 5-percent raise for other staff. They also will ask the Legislature to fully fund all 857 corrections officer positions.
The board did not consider asking for supplemental, which could kick in before the end of the fiscal year and ease the strain of overtime costs.
“I think we’re trying hard not to ask for one. That’s why we’re trying to control as much cost as we can,” Massie said.