CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Staffing challenges in jails across West Virginia are at a crisis point, according to state officials.
A House of Delegates committee passed a bill late last week in hopes of dealing with the issue.
House Bill 2879 allows a $6,000 hiring and retention bonus. Current employees would also be paid the $6,000 bonus. Newly hired officers will get $3,000 immediately and another $3,000 after three years of service.
Delegate Joey Garcia, D-Marion, supports the bill.
“That is a situation that is preparing us for a situation that is not going to be good for both the correctional officers and the offenders in the regional jails,” Garcia said Monday on MetroNews “Talkline.”
Garcia said there are some shifts that require 15 people and only two people report for duty. He said jail staff then have to ask those who have already worked a shift if they will stay, and if they decline, employees are ordered to work the additional shift.
The bill that passed the House Jails Committee also includes a $10,000 pay raise for officers that would be spread out over three years. Lawmakers also want to increase the starting salary for corrections officers from $33,000 to $43,000 in three years.
How big of an issue is the correctional officer shortage in West Virginia? How much of an impact would pay raises and bonuses be for these officers to stay? @JoeyGarciaWV discusses this issue with @HoppyKercheval. WATCH: https://t.co/yCFQ3nDJuy pic.twitter.com/FD7LcYsWkr
— MetroNews (@WVMetroNews) January 30, 2023
“Hopefully we’ll be able to make this a profession, not just a place where people go to get a short-term job,” Garcia said. “Also, when we bring someone in, a correctional officer won’t start in West Virginia jails and be poached by another organization.”
The problem has been around for the last few decades but has recently become a major issue. Since the governor’s emergency order late last year, more than 300 members of the West Virginia National Guard have been performing administrative functions for the department to free up more to serve as correctional officers.
Garcia hopes the increase in compensation will help the state recruit and maintain a dedicated workforce.
“This is a difficult job, and they deal with difficult situations and people so having longevity should also make it a safer environment.”
Now, he said, it is the responsibility of lawmakers to recognize the severity of the problem and take swift action.
“Each one of us needs to be an advocate for this, getting it to the Finance Committee and getting it to the floor, and we have the money,” Garcia said. “There is no one that can say with our almost $2 billion in surplus this year that we don’t have the money to do something about it, and one person’s life is worth that.”
House Bill 2879 will next be considered by the House Finance Committee.