Posted on 12/07/2021 7:50:02 AM PST by Diana in Wisconsin
The Northwest Regional Corrections Center in Crookston, Minn., can house 200 inmates, but this week, a 60-bed housing unit will close, cutting the jail capacity to 140.
Tri-County Community Corrections is operated by Polk, Norman and Red Lake counties.
The jail needs about 38 full-time officers to meet state staffing requirements, but Executive Director Andrew Larson says the rate of staff turnover has become unsustainable.
"This year, for example, we've had 40 resignations through Nov. 30, 2021. Last year we had 20," said Larson.
Staff departures have been climbing since 2016, but the issue reached a critical point this year.
In the past, Larson said the average staff turnover was six or seven positions a year.
"It wasn't that long ago that I had really stable employees within the jail, people with 10-15 years of experience. Now half of my corrections officers have less than 12 months of experience," he said.
Larson is reinventing a correction officer training program in hopes that will help slow the staff churn.
“It's something we have to do if we're to stand any chance of getting a handle on the turnover issues that we're experiencing,” said Larson. “If we don't do something now, we're going to just continue to have the same issue over and over.”
He wants to reopen the closed unit of the jail in four months, but he's not certain that can happen.
Reducing the jail capacity means some counties and the U.S. Marshals Service will need to find alternative inmate housing, something Larson said is likely to be a challenge with most jails near capacity.
Clay County, Minn., is also struggling to maintain adequate staffing at its jail and juvenile detention center in Moorhead, Minn.
“We never had the problems that we're having now, prior to COVID and the pandemic. So now that we're hopefully coming out of the pandemic, where did all those workers go?” said Human Resources Director Darren Brooke.
Not only is it more difficult to get applicants, Brooke said, more people are walking away from the job shortly after they start.
“And so you've got some time and effort into each one of these new applicants, and then they find out maybe this job isn't what I thought it was going to be, or ‘I'm not interested in this line of work anymore.’ So then you're starting at ground zero again with the next applicant,” he said.
Brooke said the county has increased pay substantially in the past couple of years, but pay is only one factor for an increasingly mobile workforce.
On the other side of the state in the Arrowhead region, Cook County Administrator James Joerke is trying to manage a growing number of open jobs.
"We're actually recently up to a dozen vacancies, which is approaching 10 percent of our workforce,” said Joerke.
Especially noticeable at this time of year are two vacant snowplow driver positions.
"When you have a shortage of drivers, obviously it means that our routes don't get plowed the same day of a weather event,” Joerke said. “And that can really impact the safety and well-being of our residents."
Finding skilled, qualified truck drivers can be a challenge, he added, and it's increasingly difficult to find workers willing to take jobs where they might be called in on weekends or holidays.
The vacant jobs put more stress on other employees. Joerke says he's recently been holding listening sessions with employees.
"Burnout is real,” he said, “it's happening. It's causing some of our good employees to think about working for other businesses here in Cook County, taking service jobs."
More at link...
Cops are quitting, ambulance/firetruck drivers are in demand, snow plow operators and prison guards.
Not looking good for Minnesota - and I'll bet I can find an article like this concerning other states as well. :(
Let's Go, Brandon!
Unmentioned in the article is a count of how many, if any, of the departed employees were fired for failing to follow an imperial decree on a certain “medical treatment”.
The longtime Democrat congressman Colin Peterson, who was one of the few to buck the party line, was defeated in his 15th re-election bid, outperforming Joe Xiden by 16% in a district that Trump carried by 29%.
Reap what you sow...figured that out yet?
Just announced
The state has a projected 7.7 billion dollar surplus.
https://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2021/12/07/minnesota-budget-reflects-7-7-billion-surplus/
It’s not all doom and gloom for Minnesota liberals.
Plus liberal politicians want to close the jails.
It’s looking pretty good from their view point
Here’s the thing. The article mentions that wages were substantially increased to attract workers. This scenario is being played all across the country. It follows then that in the private sector prices will increase accordingly thus driving inflation. And those additional costs are baked into the cake forever or at least until the next severe recession.
they’d rather let out criminals than let purebloods work...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.