Pennsylvania’s State Prison Staffing Crisis Shows No Sign of Ending

To the editor:

Pennsylvanians are getting back to work. The economy is on the rebound. Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate is now lower than its pre-pandemic level. That’s great news, but not for everyone, including those who work some of the most dangerous jobs in the commonwealth. Right now, the commonwealth’s prison system continues to see its vacancies skyrocket with no sign of slowing, creating a dangerous atmosphere for prison employees and inmates.

According to the Department of Corrections, there were nearly 1,000 violent incidents already this year, a staggering 33% increase from a year ago. The number of staff assaulted is up 26%, and inmate fights have increased 42%.

On Aug. 31 at 6:19 p.m., an inmate began assaulting a lone corrections officer at SCI-Forest. A second officer responded to help, but the inmate pulled a 7-inch piece of metal with a homemade handle and began stabbing both officers before a third arrived at the scene to end the vicious assault. Both officers were sent to the emergency room for their stab wounds.

We desperately need more backup to stop the increased violence. Just how bad is the staffing deficit in our state prisons? It’s a full-blown crisis. That’s not spin; the department’s own numbers tell the story.

In June, Pennsylvania’s state prison system had 757 vacancies for corrections officers, the highest in at least a generation. To put that into perspective, just prior to the pandemic, there were only 94 vacancies in June 2019. In nearly a quarter century of serving as an officer, I’ve never seen anything like this.

The reasons for the overwhelming vacancies are clear.

Pennsylvania is making it more difficult to hire new officers, with a bureaucratic approach that isn’t competitive with other states and takes too long to hire candidates. Right now, when a person attends a job fair or applies for a job in our state prisons, the wait time to hear back takes up to four months. People attending job fairs aren’t there for a cup of coffee. They want a job – now.

Pennsylvania used to allow prisons to identify and hire from local communities. That process moved quickly. The commonwealth’s current approach to have hiring handled regionally has only further bogged down the process. It’s also time to allow out-of-state residents to apply for these jobs. For example, SCI-Green County is located near the West Virginia border and should be permitted to recruit across state lines to fill vacancies. Several other state prisons are near state borders as well, including Albion, Mercer, Waymart, Phoenix, Chester, Somerset, Fayette and Laurel Highlands.

We’re also being outmaneuvered by other states for job candidates. At those same job fairs, out-of-state corrections departments are providing candidates the ability to apply for jobs on the spot with signing bonuses, such as Delaware ($5,000) and Maryland ($3,000). Virginia is giving new prison employees $6,000 just to sign on.

Even when we do hire, the washout rate for new officers leaving is over 30%, an extremely high number historically. That’s happening because officers are being forced into multiple mandatory overtime shifts, sometimes as many as three in a row. Danger and exhaustion aside, it has taken a toll on their marriages and home life. As a result, new officers aren’t staying on the job.

This simply cannot continue. The pandemic, and its after-effects, have created a staffing crisis that demands the commonwealth’s attention. Most people don’t see it because they aren’t inside. But for those officers and other prison employees who work in Pennsylvania state prisons, every day is a struggle without the numbers they need to keep the peace and return home safely to their loved ones.

We know this because the statistics are clear: Our state prisons have become remarkably more dangerous for our officers. It’s time for Pennsylvania’s elected leadership to come together and address this unprecedented staffing problem because it isn’t showing any sign of ending. Lives are on the line.

John Eckenrode

President of the Pennsylvania State Corrections Officers Association. For more information, see: pscoa.org.

Sources: Unemployment numbers: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/PAUR

Out-of-state signing bonuses: https://vadoc.virginia.gov/job-opportunities/

https://www.jobapscloud.com/DE/sup/bulpreview.asp?R1=010119&R2=MBDB01&R3=38040