Prison staffing problems need attention now

Correction officers get abysmally low pay for the dangerous work they perform. The pay makes it difficult to recruit people and that leads to dependence on overtime to make the prison system work.

The decision of two other unions to join a work-to-rule protest demonstrates the severity of the problem. Refusal to accept voluntary overtime will only make matters worse as security at the prisons is jeopardized, court proceedings are hampered and prisoners are denied medical services outside prison.

Officers have gotten modest raises over time and more hires are authorized. But these actions have never been sufficient. Inevitably staffing problems arise again and a crisis mentality dominates.

This latest showdown followed a lapse in security that led to the rape of a prison counselor and the shooting death of the inmate who assaulted her.

Gov. Minner and her advisers, including Correction Commissioner Stanley Taylor, have insisted they can investigate and remedy the security problems, staff shortages and lousy pay.

Commissioner Taylor is scheduled to meet with the correction officers' union representatives today. He says the meeting has nothing to do with the protest. It should.

Mr. Taylor says the budget enables him to establish an incentive program to recruit new officers. It will take an enormous effort because the authorized staff is down by 15 percent, or 271 officers.

The probation and parole staff is down nearly 15 percent too. That's one reason that Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 10 is supporting the protest against voluntary overtime.

Similar shortages among the non-uniform staff are difficult to determine because many jobs have been eliminated, according to the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Workers union.

Prison safety and orderly court procedures demand that this crisis be dealt with at once. The systemic problem of low pay leading to dangerous staff reductions requires a more detailed examination. Gov. Minner should establish a special independent commission to examine the long-term staff and security problems at prisons. The General Assembly should cooperate.

As much as Gov. Minner would like to keep this an internal matter, she can't. The repercussions from the security breach, rape and inmate's death, coupled with the employees' protest, have spread too far.

The governor inherited this problem from other administrations. She has an opportunity to reassess prison management. The difficulties facing administrators have been exacerbated by the Legislature's refusal to authorize decent, job-appropriate pay for officers while increasing the inmate population with minimum mandatory prison sentences.

Without independent scrutiny, no credible solution seems possible. The staffing problems will fester and could lead to another tragedy.