Delaware State News
DOVER — By all accounts, the past nine months have been tough on the Delaware Department of Corrections.
A high-profile escape, other security breaches, the captivity and rape of an employee by a knife-wielding inmate and simmering issues leading to labor protests have each taken a toll.
But the work of the state's largest law enforcement agency must go on.
Despite distractions, DOC is responsible 24 hours a day for more than 6,600 individuals incarcerated in state prisons.
On the outside, DOC probation and parole officers monitor and control more than 18,000 convicts serving various terms of court-ordered probation before they are finally set free.
New crimes are committed every day. The courts hand down more prison sentences.
The rotation never ends.
Unlike other states, Delaware has no "local'' jail populations run by individual counties or municipalities. All prison operations in Delaware are the responsibility of DOC.
Corrections Commissioner Stanley W. Taylor is charged with keeping those operations safe.
He has to balance the ongoing need for safety with the public's right to know how that safety is being administered — when it succeeds and when it falters.
Complicating the picture are the pressing issues of never having enough correctional officers, inadequate pay for employees, and a work environment many officers say is dangerous and unpleasant at the very least.
Difficult job
Mr. Taylor started at DOC as a correctional officer. He said he knows the frustrations.
"That has been the feeling of correctional officers since I was one,'' he said.
"It's kind of the irony of what our job is. Our lot in life is having to deal with a very difficult population.
"The only time anybody pays any attention is when something goes wrong. All (correctional officers) know is they are criticized as a group when something goes wrong and it is captured by the media.
"It is not unique to Delaware. It's part of our profession.''
What the public often doesn't realize, Mr. Taylor said, is what DOC staff must contend with, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
"Prisoners always try to defeat the system,'' he said. "We are always in a position of them trying to defeat us versus us keeping up with them.''
Strife from within
But correctional officers say there are other serious problems they have to grapple with besides the inmate population.
Many say the system itself is at fault and that it is defeating its own workforce.
Some say low pay and other issues are driving good officers to other jobs and keeping potentially good recruits from coming on board.
Others contend that top DOC administrators, including Mr. Taylor, do not fully understand what they endure and why so many good officers leave for different employment.
The numbers show an exodus that is growing.
According to DOC, as of Aug. 18 there were 295 total vacancies (including 44 on military leave) out of the 1,830 authorized slots for correctional officers.
That's up from just a month ago when DOC reported 271 officer vacancies, including 51 on military leave.
Meanwhile, the last recruit class graduated just eight new officers.
A lot of ‘lip service'
Michael A. Begatto is executive director of Delaware Public Employees Council 81, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.
The council represents employees in other state agencies and includes AFSCME Local 247 Correctional Supervisors Union, representing about 350 correctional counselors, high-ranking officers, supervisors, records clerks, food service workers, administrative and DOC maintenance personnel.
"Recruitment and retention is an issue that we've been fighting for, for more than 20 years,'' Mr. Begatto said. "Staffing levels and recruitment are problems in a number of agencies, not just corrections.''
He said the departure of good DOC officers would continue until the governor and lawmakers finally realize there can be no substitute for paychecks competitive with the private sector.
"We need to address salary as salary and not cover it up with things like hazardous duty pay,'' he said. "This isn't new. We've made this argument time and time again. There's been an awful lot of lip service. Now we need action.''
Corrections officers were awarded a $600 annual increase for hazardous duty in the state's fiscal 2005 budget beginning July 1. Gov. Ruth Ann Minner promised she would recommend an identical hike for fiscal 2006.
Attention-getter
Mr. Begatto said correctional officers' monthlong "work action'' refusing voluntary overtime has caught the attention of other state officials, the public and the governor's office.
"What's unique about it is that now somebody is actually willing to sit down and talk about salaries,'' he said. "I think this is a perfect opportunity for us to push our agenda on a number of issues.''
A major agenda item, he said, is convincing lawmakers to allow state workers to form collective bargaining units. Under the state's Merit System, workers are not permitted to negotiate wages. Pay scales are set by the General Assembly.
"If we had collective bargaining in Delaware, these situations wouldn't be happening,'' Mr. Begatto emphasized. "They did it with the state police and it didn't create a problem there.''
State police are represented by the Delaware State Troopers Association, which negotiates directly with the state for pay and other benefits.
"I think we are turning a corner here,'' Mr. Begatto said. "Whether it's national or local, I don't know, but I think it's happening.''
He said he does credit Gov. Minner for promising an additional 5 percent pay increase for correctional officers effective Jan. 1, 2005, especially considering the recent sluggish economy.
"I'm not defending her and I'm not her patsy,'' Mr. Begatto said. "But it has been one of the worst economies in years.
"I think we all have to remember that Gov. Minner just happens to be the governor now. These problems have been around for a long time. They were there during the Carper administration and go back as far as the Tribbitt administration.''
A fortune in OT
While lack of personnel and the issue of voluntary overtime have captured the public's attention recently, the department's regular use of overtime to cover minimum staffing levels shows just how serious the situation is.
According to Elizabeth Welch, a DOC spokeswoman, the department expended $7,238,890 for overtime during fiscal year 2004, which ended June 20.
Of that amount, she said $6,245,963 was spent by the Bureau of Prisons, $673,675 was for the Bureau of Community Corrections, and $319,252 covered overtime costs for the Bureau of Management Services.
David Knight is senior vice president of the Correctional Officers Association of Delaware, representing about 1,300 correctional officers.
After initially supporting members' refusal to take voluntary overtime, the union backed off for fear of violating state laws that prohibit work protests and strikes by organized labor.
Mr. Knight nonetheless criticized DOC at an Aug. 13 COAD meeting for contributing to the staffing shortage.
He said the department is really 476 officers short because jobs eliminated to save money are simply not counted.
"They dropped a number of positions to pay for other things,'' he told his membership. "They cut six positions at the new Women's Treatment Center and they haven't even opened it yet. They called it ‘salary savings.' ''
Mr. Knight said there are other ways DOC could recoup money to bolster correctional officers' salaries but administrators and legislators turn a deaf ear. When welfare recipients are sent to prison, he said the welfare checks go to the state's general fund instead of to DOC.
He said court-ordered costs of up to $200 assessed to people on probation also go back to the state.
"There has never been anything set up by the legislature to bring this money back into corrections,'' he said.
Mr. Taylor said he agrees with increasing salary levels for correctional officers. However he cautioned the process would take time and noted that Gov. Minner has already signed her name to a 5 percent hike Jan. 1.
"I'm supportive of their need for an increase in compensation,'' he said. "It's also clear we have to go farther than that. But the governor has clearly made a promise and that's all she can do now by law.
"My message (to the unions) is this — they've made their point. We have responded. The governor has responded to the extent that she is allowed to by law.
"The responsible thing now is to come back to work.''
Losing steam?
Mr. Taylor said the continued refusal to accept voluntary overtime may be losing steam.
"There are some signs this thing may be approaching an end,'' he said.
"I also think the unions risk losing what they've achieved by overplaying their hand. They don't want to burn the goodwill they've already achieved.''
Supreme Court Justice Henry duPont Ridgely said statewide courts, which have had to cancel hundreds of hearings and other matters because officers won't volunteer for overtime to transport inmates to and from the courthouses, are hoping for a resolution.
"We are continuing to monitor the situation and work with the Department of Correction to schedule events so that the most number of court transports can be made with the staff that they have to do it,'' Justice Ridgely said.
"We continue to look forward to progress being made in resolving the matter.''
Mr. Taylor said DOC's problems essentially translate into hard, cold cash.
"Some people say recruitment and retention is not solely an economic problem,'' he said. "But in this situation I believe it is an eco.nomic problem.
"(Correctional officers) are not seeing movement through the pay grade. That is the largest issue. There is no question, we need to address that.''
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Senior writer Tom Eldred can be reached at 741-8212 or teldred@newszap.com.
