By Joe Rogalsky,
Delaware State News
DOVER —The state is about "18 months to two years" away from solving the staffing woes that have plagued the Department of Correction, the agency's head informed budget writing lawmakers Thursday.
Commissioner of Correction Stanley W. Taylor told the legislative Joint Finance Committee that his agency has made strides in recruiting more officers and retaining them, but has not solved the problems that have led to depressed morale among personnel and security questions.
"While it is too early to say we have turned the corner on our correctional officer vacancy problem, there are some encouraging signs," he said.
Mr. Taylor made his remarks during the agency's annual appearance before the JFC, which crafts the state's annual operating budget that takes effect July 1.
Gov. Ruth Ann Minner allocated $209 million for the agency in her budget proposal, which would be a 7.4 percent jump from the fiscal 2005 budget.
Mr. Taylor said the agency has 346 open correctional officer positions out of a possible 1,861. Of those vacancies, however, 46 are due to officers who are also members of the military reserves or National Guard being called up for active duty.
Over the past year, the state has implemented several enhancements aimed at attracting more officers and keeping them with the state.
The staffing shortage has led prisons to force some officers to work consecutive eight-hour shifts if an officer is not available to take over.
Last year the state increased hazardous duty pay for correctional officers by $600, with another increase scheduled for July 1, when fiscal 2006 begins.
On Sept. 1, the department implemented a recruiting incentive program that pays $500 to a new officer and the officer who attracted the new recruit.
"We have made a number of adjustments to mitigate the impacts of the vacancies, but the correctional officer series continues to carry a heavy burden," Mr. Taylor said.
On Jan. 1, officers received a 5 percent pay increase. The officers also receive the same across-the-board pay raises that other state employees receive.
The correction department has been in the news often in the past year for a spate of security breaches, culminating with a July 12 incident at Delaware Correctional Center near Smyrna.
A convicted rapist serving a 699-year sentence took a prison counselor hostage for nearly seven hours and raped her before a correctional officer shot the inmate to death.
On Thursday, several lawmakers wanted to know why the agency had not cracked down on its classification system to prevent dangerous criminals from enjoying the freedom that the convicted rapist had July 12.
Mr. Taylor and Chief of Prisons Paul Howard said they are awaiting reports from a governor-appointed task force investigating the incident and from a national panel evaluating the prison system before taking permanent action.
Mr. Taylor said both reports are expected within a month.
He also said the agency has already allowed the personnel who decide an inmate's security classification to keep the prisoner in a higher security level even if he or she would have been permitted more freedom before the July 12 incident.
Mr. Taylor said he expects a "more stringent" prisoner classification system after his agency reviews those reports.
Sen. James T. Vaughn, D-Clayton, lit into Mr. Taylor and Mr. Howard for having a lax system before the incident and for waiting until the task forces' reports come back before acting.
"I don't know that I'm disgusted with (Mr. Howard), but I am disgusted with the commissioner," said Sen. Vaughn, a former commissioner of corrections.
"It seems to me that someone serving 699 years should not be roaming the halls with no one knowing where he is until he does something tragic. The classification system, in my judgment, has led to some of the problems.
"I told the commissioner he'd be burned with it, and he's been burnt with it. Five or 10 years ago, (violent inmates) would never get out of their cell block or might never get out of their cell."
Sen. Vaughn said lawmakers and prison officials know there are staffing and security problems and can figure out how to fix them without depending on the panels' reports.
"I don't think we need whoever it is from wherever it is to tell us we have problems in this prison system that need to be corrected," Sen. Vaughn said.
"I don't think there are problems that can't be corrected by our own people if they are willing to take the bull by the horns. I think we have reached a point where we need to do whatever we can do to get out of this bag."
Sen. George H. Bunting Jr., D-Bethany Beach, said budget-writing legislators need to make tough funding decisions this year to allocate sufficient money to the Department of Correction so the staffing and security issues can be fixed.
Otherwise, he said, the committee would be faced with similar problems next year.
"I don't know what those task forces are going to say or how beneficial it is going to be," Sen. Bunting said.
"Certainly, the pay issue is a huge point, but there are other issues. How long can we ask these correctional officers to work long hours away from their loved ones and spouses over a long period of time?"
Pay matters were on the minds of several speakers who addressed the committee after Mr. Taylor.
Kevin C. Rolph, chairman of the Correctional Officers Association of Delaware's legislative committee, said the officers' agenda for the year included further salary increases and a change in state law to allow employees to retire with a full pension after 25 years instead of the current 30.
Dennis Higgins, a prison counselor at Sussex Correctional Institution near Georgetown, urged the JFC to extend the increases in hazardous duty pay that the officers received to all nonuniformed employees, such as counselors and clerks.
The victim in the July 12 incident, Mr. Higgins pointed out, was not receiving the same hazardous duty pay as the correctional officers but obviously faced similar dangers.
"There are times when inmates are not happy with us, like when we tell them a family member has died," he said.
"Those are pretty emotional times, and sometimes desperate times for the inmates, that we deal with firsthand. When the doors lock behind us, we are all outnumbered by dangerous offenders."
Mr. Taylor told the committee he understood the concerns of nonuniformed staff about the state's awarding of hazardous duty pay, though he did not request funding from the committee to cover those personnel.
"The nonuniform employees who work inside the institutions feel left out since they were not included in the hazardous duty adjustment last year," he said.
Mr. Taylor said future events could have a large impact on his department's budget requests.
He specifically singled out the case of Ward T. Evans, which the state Supreme Court is reconsidering.
The court's November ruling in the case laid the groundwork for about 200 inmates serving life sentences to be released early.
As part of the General Assembly's response, the House of Representatives approved House Bill 43 last month, which allows for certain sex offenders to be incarcerated on civil charges after their criminal sentence expires.
The measure is pending in the Senate.
Some of the 200 inmates who could be released depending on the court's decision would be covered under HB 43.
"We must watch the Ward T. Evans decision," Mr. Taylor said.
"Depending on the decision to be made by the Supreme Court, we may need to develop a new and enhanced level of community supervision.
"We must carefully think through the fiscal impacts of HB 43. Without arguing the merits of civil commitments, going down that road could be expensive because we will be talking about separate units for a relatively few people. At the early stages, this is likely to be an expensive venture."
Staff writer Joe Rogalsky can be reached at 741-8226 or jrogalsky@newszap.com.
Reprinted with permission from newszap.com
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