Understaffed Prisons

The State of Texas has approved a much needed pay raise, as well as signing bonus for prison guards that work in severely understaffed prisons through out the state. There will be a ten percent raise to each correctional officer’s salary. Guards who are hired at the most understaffed prisons will receive a one thousand five hundred dollar signing bonus upon employment. Even with these much needed incentives, there is still a huge issue with getting people interested in employment with the states prisons. There are many problems that can occur with a shortage of prisons guards, one is the safety of the guards as well as the inmates. According to Mike Ward, “Thursday's move came after months of concern that the continuing staff shortages posed an increasing safety issue in Texas prisons, the nation's second-largest state system. Officials closed one wing of a Dalhart lockup in October because too few guards were available to safely supervise it. It was the first time in recent history such a closure had been ordered.” The question to ask ourselves is, “With the steady rise of the prison population and the decrease of prison employees being short more than 3,500 guards, out of about 26,000 total positions, what can we do to address this problem?”

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/region/legislature/stories/03/28/0328prisons.html