(The Center Square) - A report from the Oklahoma Legislative Office of Fiscal Transparency shows most state prisons are operating with just 40 to 45% of the staffing needed.
The 59-page operational assessment of the Oklahoma Department of Corrections also questioned how the department used savings from a reduced number of inmates.
The report credits DOC with finding ways to work around the staffing shortages but said a plan is needed.
“For example, only prisoners over the age of 37 are housed in certain critically understaffed facilities because DOC has learned that this population is statistically less likely to engage in violent behavior,” the report said. “The department also places well-behaved medium security inmates in the Joseph Harp Correctional Center. This facility has access to leather-working and furniture-making shops, which pay significantly more than the average DOC job. Since general population inmates must exhibit good behavior to get into the facility, there are fewer problems, allowing staff to devote more of their attention to the medical and mental health units housed in the same facility.”
The report also suggests lowering the minimum age for correctional officers to 18. But, the impact of this change would be delayed due to DOC’s greatest need being experienced correctional officers, not entry-level, LOFT said in the report.
Prisons are not a popular place to work and the department has lost staff, said Scott Crow, DOC director, at a meeting of the LOFT committee on Thursday.
“There have been periods of time that, and I believe we are in still one of those periods, where I would consider it critical,” Crow said. “We have a facility with 2,000 inmates and you have 25 to 30 correctional officers that report for duty on any particular day. That creates a serious situation.”
The department is looking into solutions to the staffing problem, Crow said. The state recently raised the starting salary for correctional officers to $20.40 an hour.
The department also created a staffing analysis unit that assesses the need, and recruitment efforts are underway, according to Crow.
The report also questioned the department’s budgeting process in light of a reduced number of inmates.
“Between FY 20 and FY 21, DOC’s total operating costs increased by approximately 3.5% while the inmate population declined nearly 12 percent, using FY19 as a baseline”, the report said.
Department officials said the savings are being used in-house.
“We haven’t prepared a budget request for additional funding, which we had typically been requesting the appropriations committee to fund vehicles, medical equipment, infrastructure,” said Ashlee Clemmons, the department’s chief financial officer. “We’ve been doing that independent of requesting any additional funding so don’t think that it is we haven’t recognized the savings. We just reinvested in ourselves without asking for additional funding.”
The DOC needs to evaluate how the inmate population will look in the future and what impact that will have on the budget, said Rep. Meloyde Blancett, D-Tulsa, in a news release. Oklahoma voters approved a ballot question in 2106 that made some non-violent drug and property offenses a misdemeanor.
“The inmate population of tomorrow consequently will consist of a greater percentage of violent offenders than currently, as well as an overall decrease in population,” Blancett said. “These changes require different facility, programming and staffing needs, which must be reflected in what we approve for appropriations.”
via Oklahoma's Center Square News