By Tom Eldred,
Delaware State News
DOVER — A top prison official confirmed Thursday that he is considering the employment of private security officers to help bolster correctional staffing strained by a month-long labor protest.
"The criminal justice community is always looking at ways to resolve this issue,'' said Paul W. Howard, chief of the Bureau of Prisons for the state Department of Correction.
"We need to insure that all (transports) are completed as required by the law. The criminal justice system has not been able to meet those needs at the present time.''
Delaware correctional officers began turning down voluntary overtime assignments for work in DOC's court and transport unit July 26 to protest issues including low pay, inadequate staffing and lack of response from the state on their demands for a 25-year retirement plan.
With the exception of Monday, when 14 officers signed up, refusals to accept the overtime have been almost unanimous from day one of the protest.
Since the court and transport unit regularly depends on voluntary overtime to augment regular court and transport staff, DOC has been unable to move hundreds of incarcerated individuals to court and other locations.
Court administrators are being forced to cancel and reschedule inmate hearings and other matters every day.
Mr. Howard said he wants to change that. He wants a 100-percent transport completion rate.
"Internally, as chief of the Bureau of Prisons, I have to look at ways to manage that,'' he said. "We are looking at several options.
"We are looking at increased video conferencing so that we could take care of more of these matters inside our prisons.
"We are also looking at the possibility of contracting with outside agencies to provide courtroom security.''
Mr. Howard stressed "nothing is set in stone." He said no contracts have been signed.
"These are all areas we are looking at,'' he said. "The goal is meeting the needs of the courts.''
David Knight is senior vice president of the Correctional Officers Association of Delaware, representing about 1,300 correctional officers statewide.
COAD initially supported the overtime protest but withdrew endorsement for fear the union could be held liable for an illegal labor action.
State employees in Delaware are not permitted to strike or engage in other formal work protests.
"We'd have to look into (hiring private security officers), before taking a position on that,'' Mr. Knight said. "But I suppose if (DOC) wishes to do that, then that's one way they can solve their problem.''
Specialized training for transporting and securing often-dangerous inmates is another issue, Mr. Knight said.
"I worked for a security company for an interim period after I finally got out of the military,'' he said. "I was one of three people out of about 200 that had police or law enforcement background. Mostly they just pick people up off the street for those jobs.''
Mr. Howard said he's already considered that.
"That would be a part of the proposals (from outside firms) that we would be looking at,'' he said. "Training and other specialties would be part of the requirements.''
He said he's only considering private security for court and transport duty.
Although DOC has almost 300 vacant correctional officer positions, including about 40 on military leave, Mr. Howard said using private security guards to beef up staffing inside the prisons is not being contemplated now.
"This is just one of the options we have,'' he said. "We've already used the Staff Training Relief Officers (STROs) and it has worked well.''
DOC began assigning 10 to 12 STROs daily to court and transport operations two weeks ago. Administrators said the added personnel helped but did not fully rectify the situation.
Mr. Howard said he has the use of the STROs for five weeks before they must go back to their regular training and fill-in duties.
"We may have to look at further options after their five weeks are over,'' he said.
Meanwhile, the overtime protest winds up its fifth week today. DOC offered 12 voluntary slots for court and transport Thursday. Only one officer signed up.
Mr. Knight said he wasn't surprised.
"We've been asking them to do court and transport,'' he said. "But they're united in their stand.''
Post comments on this issue at newsblog.info/0407. Senior writer Tom Eldred can be reached at 741-8212 or teldred@newszap.com.
