My Take: MDOC got itself in a real crisis over Truth in Sentencing
Recently Sens. Ed McBroom and Jeff Irwin raised important issues focusing on the Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC) regarding the escalating crisis involving corrections officers and staff.
As COVID-19 continues to ravage the workers and incarcerated population, these issues demand immediate attention. For those who work and are housed in Michigan prisons it is entirely impossible to keep social distance and limit transmission of the virus. Reports from various facilities reveal that the MDOC response is following the same pattern which was put into motion when the pandemic first broke out; shuffle the population who have tested positive into large holding areas such as gyms to contain the spread of the virus.
Reports from the onset of the pandemic in 2020 also included accounts of incarcerated citizens who tested positive being relocated from facility to facility. The result being 28,800 individuals (almost the entire MDOC incarcerated population) has been infected with COVID. This practice failed before and there is no reason to think it will work now. But this is only the tip of the iceberg.
The underlying crisis of overworked Michigan corrections officers is a topic not widely recognized and highlighted. Mandating an officer who has just finished a shift with the command that they now stay an additional eight hours is a recipe for trouble. Fatigued individuals are prone to making mistakes more so than a fresh employee starting a shift. Given the already difficult circumstances of working in an emotionally stressful and potentially dangerous environment, asking an individual at the last minute to stay another 8-plus hours due to lack of staff is an unsustainable long-term solution. The physical and psychological strain is great enough on people, many of whom entered a profession to make a difference but asking them to work mandatory overtime can create a disgruntled worker out of the best of us.
Why has MDOC found itself in this position?
Could it be that Michigan keeps people in prison longer on average than most every other state in our nation? There is no other state in the U.S. which requires incarcerated citizens to serve 100 percent of their minimum sentence behind bars — NONE! It is no surprise that we are burning out our MDOC corrections officers and staff shortages number in the hundreds. A recent report by Fox 47 News cites approximately 800 openings at MDOC with 120 of those being corrections officers. The system is at its breaking point and our state leaders refuse to deal with this issue.
Recently, Sen. Jeff Irwin introduced SB649 to provide relief for an overburdened system. The 30-year-old tough in crime mentality simply does not work and costs Michigan taxpayers over $2 billion every year. Yet the system is still short-staffed and only marginally successful at rehabilitation, ostensibly one of the main goals of any corrections department.
Truth in Sentencing (TIS), which was enacted by our state legislature can also be reversed by our state legislature. If MDOC cannot fix the problem and the governor does not step in with her executive authority, then we urge the Michigan legislators to take action and reverse the failed social policy called TIS.
— Jack Wagner is president of Michigan Justice Advocacy.
This article originally appeared on The Sault News: My Take: MDOC got itself in a real crisis
