Maryland prisons need more than 3,400 more correctional officers, union says

The union representing correctional officers across the state says 3,417 more officers are needed to adequately staff the 19 facilities Maryland operates.

Union officials say understaffing is creating a dangerous situation in the state's prisons.

Officials from the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 3 released a Correctional Institution Security and Staffing report Thursday that outlines the number of positions it believes are needed in state correctional facilities.

The report put that number at a little more than 1,000 above the 2,963 officers in the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services' latest analysis. The number includes both current vacancies and the number of additional officers the department believes are needed.

"Severe understaffing creates dangerous environments for both staff and inmates," said AFSCME District 3 President Patrick Moran during a news conference Thursday. "And that's just only exacerbated itself over the last decade as a result of the staffing crisis."

Union officials repeated their contention that former Gov. Larry Hogan's administration had failed to respond adequately to staffing issues, and said they looked forward to working with Gov. Wes Moore's administration to address them.

The report broke down the number of posts in the facility plans, the number of posts now in use, the number of posts currently vacant and the number of additional posts the union believes should be created to manage each facility based on its analysis. Here's how those numbers look for the prisons in Washington and Somerset counties:

Maryland Correctional Institution — Hagerstown

• Facility Plan: 334

• Current posts needed: 312.4

• Vacancies: 54

• AFSCME recommended additions: 62

Maryland Correctional Training Center

• Facility Plan: 396

• Current posts needed: 489

• Vacancies: 39

• AFSCME recommended additions: 60

Roxbury Correctional Institution

• Facility Plan: 275

• Current posts needed: 318.4

• Vacancies: 57

• AFSCME recommended additions: 47

Eastern Correctional Institution

• Facility Plan: 536

• Current posts needed: 552

• Vacancies: 114

• AFSCME recommended additions: 56

Eastern Correctional Institution Annex

• Facility Plan: 96

• Current posts needed: 102.6

• Vacancies: 13

• AFSCME recommended additions: 49

The department has struggled to fill vacancies and has lost correctional officers to other employment or retirement. "Although some steps have been taken to hire and retain staff, more must be done," the report says. "Retention efforts will expire in January 2024, potentially triggering a further loss of staff of up to 30%."

"I think there needs to be more emphasis on recruitment and retention; in particular retention, given what we're going to see over the next year," Moran said. "There's going to be a deluge of officers leaving. And that's a result of opportunities elsewhere, and that's a result of people just being worn out because of the situation — constantly having to work 16-hour shifts, constantly being subjected to violence."

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The report made several recommendations for recruiting and retaining officers:

• Decentralize hiring: The hiring department would have the liberty to select candidates based on the individual needs of their institutions, the union says

• Expedite the hiring process: Screening for preemployment requirements would streamline the effort.

• Restore wages based on years of service: The union wants the department to eliminate pay wage disparity

• Increase employee incentives

The department has hired more than 2,000 correctional officers in the past two years, spokesman Mark Vernarelli said in statement released Thursday in response to the report.

But "the Moore-Miller administration has seen an alarming number of vacancies and staff shortages across the state upon entering the administration in January," he said. "Since day one, Governor Moore has been very clear that it is a major priority of his to fill these roles and get the state government back to firing on all cylinders. DPSCS is committed to closing the gap, and appreciates the Governor’s commitment to this important issue."

Vernarelli said that the department has hired 404 new employees across all employee types so far this year, "a 62% rise in hires compared to the same time last year." He said the department has participated in 44 hiring events across the state, undertaken a massively advertised recruitment effort and has dedicated existing staff to focus on hiring.

"Enhanced pay, added bonuses, and increased retirement retention incentives has proven effective in helping to recruit new staff," Vernarelli said. "The department has also streamlined hiring processes to help fill positions more quickly. We are also working with the union on the department’s staffing analysis, which is currently underway.

"We are strongly committed to working with the Moore-Miller administration to expand our ongoing and concerted effort to meet staffing capacity."

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Mail: Union's staffing report calls for thousands more correctional officers