State still needs National Guard to address prison staff shortages

TALLAHASSEE — A little more than a year after calling on the National Guard to assist the state Department of Corrections, Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration is proposing to assign another 100 guard members to Florida prisons and buy dozens of now-leased trailers to house them and family members.

The corrections agency for years has grappled with staffing shortages and high turnover rates, resulting in millions of dollars in overtime pay for workers. The Legislature has authorized hiring and retention bonuses for correctional officers and hiked starting salaries, but staffing issues persist.

DeSantis in September 2022 issued an executive order activating the National Guard “to address the present staffing shortage on a temporary short-term basis.” The governor subsequently extended the order, and 300 guard members have been working in the prison system.

The Department of Corrections recently submitted a request to a legislative committee seeking $23.5 million to offset salaries for 100 additional guard members at state prisons through June 30, the end of the fiscal year. The state is spending $30 million for the 300 guard members already working in the prison system.

The proposal also asks for another $1.6 million to purchase “currently leased modular homes to continue housing” guard personnel.

The Joint Legislative Budget Commission, which is made up of House and Senate members and can make midyear budget decisions, is slated to take up the request Wednesday.

The request “tells you that not having adequate security and staffing is just simply not an option,” Senate Criminal and Civil Justice Appropriations Chairwoman Jennifer Bradley, R-Fleming Island, told The News Service of Florida on Friday.

“We just can’t have the staffing shortage. We have to fill the needs, and that’s what we’re doing.

The modular-home money would be used to buy 58 units that each can house up to five guard members and family members. The guard members would pay $50 every other week, including utilities, to live on site, according to information provided to the News Service by the Senate. The units would be used to house correctional officers after the National Guard is no longer used at prisons, the agency’s request said.

Many guard members already assigned to prisons are using trailers at facilities scattered throughout rural North Florida. The facilities include prisons in Bradford, Calhoun, Franklin, Holmes, Jackson, Lafayette, Santa Rosa, Hamilton, Union and Washington counties.

The agency’s request pointed to “a correctional officer staffing shortage resulting in extensive correctional officer overtime.”

“Although the recruitment and hiring of correctional officers has improved since 2022, new correctional officers must first complete a 13-week training program, which delays their assignment to critical posts,” the proposal said. “As a result, activation of FLNG (Florida National Guard) guardsmen will be extended and expanded to assist the FDC (Florida Department of Corrections) through June 30, 2024, at an estimated cost of $23,531,027.”

The guard members’ duties “exclude any direct supervision of inmates, except where such supervision occurs as a normal part of manning control stations or when required in an emergency situation pertaining to safety and security,” the proposal said.

“A big goal of ours is that every Floridian has a medical home...instead of walking through the doors of an emergency department.”

— Senate Health Policy Chairwoman Colleen Burton