How to improve safety in NC prisons? Pay workers more, SEANC tells state lawmakers
State prison correctional officers sometimes make less money than workers at fast food restaurants — a problem that has led to safety risks caused by staffing shortages, according to a new report from the State Employees Association of North Carolina.
The report came out Wednesday, the same day the N.C. General Assembly returned to Raleigh for a legislative session in which lawmakers will write the state budget for the next two years.
SEANC President Jimmy Davis told reporters at the Legislative Building that when he worked as a corrections officer, “We had that dedication to our jobs but we also back then had the support and backing to do our jobs.”
“Today, I still feel like that dedication is there. I talk to a lot of correctional officers. I feel that dedication is still there today. They don’t feel like they have the backing, though.”
In 2018, all state employees got at least a 2 percent raise, and prison correctional officers got a 4 percent raise. But SEANC leaders like Davis believe that’s not enough, with the average corrections employee making $36,990 a year. SEANC said it will recommend an average raise of $8,000 for prison employees in next year’s budget, in order to get salaries to the national average.
Many of North Carolina’s prisons are located in rural areas, with a lower cost of living than the national or even state averages. Regardless, SEANC said if prisons can’t attract workers, or lose workers to higher-paying jobs, then understaffing remains a concern. And then the security risks and burnout caused by understaffing lead more workers to quit, making the problems worse, SEANC’s report says.
Sen. Bob Steinburg, a Republican who represents an area of northeastern North Carolina where prisons employ many local residents, said he believes his colleagues in the legislature will listen to what prison workers are asking for and try to help them.
“I think you’re going to to see some announcements in the next few days that’s going to suggest there’s going to be a really aggressive approach on the part of the Senate in terms of trying to find out just exactly what needs to be done,” he said in a press conference Wednesday with SEANC officials and prison workers.
In late 2017, the state government commissioned management experts at Duke University to write a report on how to improve staffing and security problems in state prisons. Like the study SEANC released Wednesday, that 2017 Duke study also concluded that higher salaries would make prisons safer by cutting down on staff shortages as well as cutting down on incentives for prison employees to smuggle drugs, phones and other contraband into prisons.
The SEANC report released Wednesday was based on interviews and surveys of hundreds of prison workers across the state, and written by a team of 14 current and retired veterans of the prison system.
“We heard countless horror stories from officers about being in charge of hundreds of inmates all alone with only a can of pepper spray for self-defense,” the report says, later adding that, “Understaffed prisons lead to over-worked staff. Officers can work 16- or 20-hour shifts, only to turn around and be called in on their days off.”
On average, the report said, prisons are unable to fill 25 percent of their job openings at any given time. Of the workers surveyed for the report, 97 percent said understaffing “has a direct impact” on their safety, and 85 percent said it was their top concern.
“Understaffing can result in key tasks being rushed or missed,” the report said. “When corners are cut, safety is compromised. Inmates get away with violations they otherwise would not be tolerated.”
Not just pay raises
Adding to the problems with inmate behavior, correctional officer Sam Adams said at the SEANC news conference Wednesday, is that guards like him are constantly in fear of being written up or fired if they even touch a prisoner.
“I see people afraid to do their jobs,” Adams said. “I see people afraid to grab hold and make things happen. What I say might not be politically correct. But sometimes we’re not dealing with the cream of the crop. We’re dealing with convicted felons. And sometimes we have to lay hands on them, we have to be physical with them.”
Requests like that one for more leeway go along with other requests SEANC has tied to more respect for correctional officers and the jobs they do. One of those is for correctional officers to be officially recognized as law enforcement officers.
That would allow them to retire earlier than they can now.
SEANC’s report cited several studies that showed, among other things, the average correctional officer only lives to age 58 and that suicide rates for the profession are significantly higher than average.
Changing retirement rules for prison workers would add to other benefits prison workers received last year, when the legislature increased the amount of money the families of prison workers killed on the job can receive. That was prompted by 2017 being the state’s deadliest year ever for prison workers, according to the Duke study. Five employees were killed on the job in attacks at the Bertie and Pasquotank correctional institutions.
On Wednesday, House Speaker Tim Moore was asked about the prison worker’s requests. He pointed to some of the help the legislature gave them last year, like pay raises and increased death benefits.
“But no one can deny that there’s still challenges there,” Moore said. “These folks have a very dangerous job. I mean they’re in a locked, confined space with folks who don’t want to be there, many of whom are violent and dangerous. We need to do all we can to make sure that we’re protecting these state employees, because they are truly the front line in protecting the public.”
The report also said PTSD is a serious issue among correctional staff, leading to problems ranging from domestic violence to addiction and suicide. It said the state needs to do a better job of making mental health services available to employees.
“Many people ... do not realize what you’re walking into when you walking into them prisons and you’re standing there with people convicted of some of the most heinous crimes in the state of North Carolina,” Davis said Wednesday. “They do not realize what we walk into every day. It is time to give the respect back to the officers and the authority to do their jobs back to the officers.”
This story was originally published January 30, 2019 at 3:21 PM.
