Prison chief: Lack of staffing remains most pressing issue

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — The head of Alabama’s troubled prison system said Wednesday that staffing remains “the number one issue” for the department and is looking to a combination of outsourcing and pay and benefit changes to increase the number of officers working inside state lockups.

Alabama Corrections Commissioner John Hamm told lawmakers during budget hearings that the difficult labor market, which has many private industries searching for workers, has compounded the department’s difficulty in recruiting officers. He said the department has 688 funded vacant positions in security.

“Any suggestions you might have, we’re all ears. I think one of our court orders says we are going to hire X number of security staff. I don’t know how we are going to make them come to work,” Hamm told lawmakers.

A federal judge earlier this month questioned the state’s lack of progress in complying with his order to increase the number of officers. The prison system has lost more than 500 security staff employees over the last 18 months, according to court filings.

Hamm said the state plans to put a bid out to hire a private security firm to staff prison positions that do not interact with inmates. He said those functions might include operating cubicle controls, searching people coming inside the prison and possibly manning prison towers. The goal is to free up certified correctional officers to work “inside the prisons, inside the dorms where inmates are,” Hamm said.

Hamm said the Alabama Department of Corrections is also reaching out to other state law enforcement agencies to try to reach an agreement for their officers to help patrol prison perimeters.

Hamm told lawmakers the department competes with local law enforcement agencies for officers and that the department lags behind in both pay and benefits. He said the department is working with the Department of Personnel to try to raise pay scales for officers.

“Staffing is the number one issue,” Hamm told reporters after the meeting. “Staffing will solve so many other issues. … If we have enough correctional officers in dorms, they can eradicate cellphones, keep an eye on it, keep an eye on the perimeter.”

The budget meeting, where department heads present an overview of their programs and needs, comes ahead of the legislative session that begins next month. Hamm said much of the funding increase the department is requesting is to comply with court orders, including the increased cost of medical care for inmates.

Hamm said the department is also seeking $13 million for a system to combat contraband cellphones that inmates obtain.