CHARLESTON, W.Va. — One lawmakers says a visit to the South Central Regional Jail was a shocker.
Delegate Andrew Robinson (D-36) was one of several members of the House of Delegates who toured the jail. Robinson admitted he was amazed to see the conditions there, not only for inmates, but more for the guards.
“It was pretty eye opening. We’ve been talking about how Correctional Officers are paid below $20,000 for the last few years, but that comes as a surprise when you see what they’re dealing with and what kind of a dangerous job they’re put into.” Robinson said.
Robinson and the delegation were given a look inside the booking area, the yard, the tower, and the commons area. They also got a peek into the cells which were designed for one inmate, and right now house up to three in most cases.
“South Central was built for around 260 inmates, they have 573 there right now,” he explained while speaking on 580-Live with Charleston Mayor Danny Jones on MetroNews Affiliate WCHS Radio in Charleston. “In some of the pods there were two to three inmates in each cell and there were probably six or seven beds strewn out into the commons area where those people were sleeping as well.”
Regional Jail officials have long complained about the low pay and long hours their guards are forced to endure. The guards, according to Robinson, often work four or five 16 hour shifts consecutively. Burnout is a huge problem and consistently leads to high turnover.
“I assumed these guys would get trained locally and then a federal prison will pick them up for better pay, but I asked that question and they said they’re losing guys to minimum wage jobs,” Robinson explained. “They’ll leave and go work a minimum wage job somewhere else because it’s safer and they don’t have to do the things they have to do in the jail system.”
South Central is not the only regional jail experiencing the problems. According to what Robinson learned, it’s system wide.
“I think it’s across the board with state employees. We want to cut state employees’ pay so far we can’t keep good employees in a position,” he explained. “We have such rapid turnover, I think it costs the state even more because we’re paying these people so little.”
Pay for corrections officers and Regional Jail employees has been a front burner issue for the Regional Jail Authority and the Division of Corrections for the last several legislative sessions. Jail officials say it’s costly to train an employee and have them leave after only a few months on the job. The process must begin all over again with the same expense. It’s expected to be an issue again in January during the regular session. Robinson, after his tour, appeared compelled to push for improvement in the system.