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Ohio prison system logs $314.7M in overtime in 5 years

Overtime pay for all Ohio prison employees declined over the past five years but continues rising for a critical group: corrections officers

By Alan Johnson
The Columbus Dispatch

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Overtime pay for all Ohio prison employees declined over the past five years but continues rising for a critical group: corrections officers.

Ohio taxpayers paid $314.7 million in overtime to state prison employees over five fiscal years ending on June 30, according to a report issued yesterday by the Correctional Institution Inspection Committee, a state legislative watchdog on adult and juvenile prisons. The agency said that $239 million of the total was paid to corrections officers in the fiscal years 2010 to 2014.

Corrections officers, the prison security staff, account for 75 percent of all prison overtime.

Year in, year out, the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction pays the most overtime of any state agency, largely because the system has more than 50,000 inmates and operates 24 hours a day year-round.

Prison overtime in 2014 was $59.9 million, compared with $71.5 million in 2010, a 16.2 percent drop, the committee reported. Part of the decline can be attributed to the fact that two prisons were converted to private operations during the period. Salaries and overtime are paid by private operators under a state contract

In addition, the state reduced the overall number of corrections officers statewide by about 500 compared with 2010. Overtime for security staff rose to $48.8 million in 2014 from $46 million in 2010, an increase of 6.1 percent.

Overtime dropped at most of the 28 state-owned prisons, the report showed. But it went up at a handful, including the Franklin Medical Center, the main prison hospital south of Columbus, which paid $28.8 million, by far the most over five years.

State prisons spokeswoman JoEllen Smith said, “Overtime fluctuates based on specific needs at the prison on that specific day, and other factors beyond our control, such as call-offs, emergency transports and our contractual obligation to fill established posts at the beginning of each shift.

“In the past few years, we have focused on those areas within our control such as efficient scheduling and improved employee-retention processes.”

Officials have said it is more economical to pay overtime than hire full-time employees with benefits.

Christopher Mabe, president of the Ohio Civil Service Employees Association, the union representing prison workers, said overtime is a big-ticket expense because the state does not have enough security officers.

“In a prison, overtime is not just a matter of money, it’s a matter of security,” Mabe said. “In a 24-hour operation, there are things that have to be done to maintain security, keep people inside the fences and keep the public safe.”

Corrections officers frequently must work mandatory overtime, meaning an eight-hour shift is extended without previous notice to a 16-hour shift. Mabe said that can result in employee fatigue and security problems.

Overtime declined at prisons in Toledo, Mansfield and Ross County when more officers were added this year because of an infusion of money from the state mid-biennium budget adjustment, Mabe said.

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