Md. correctional officers, union leaders call for 3,400 hires over safety concerns

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Union leaders representing Maryland’s correctional officers on Thursday urged the state to hire more than 3,400 officers to address shortages at the state’s correctional institutions, which have endangered officers and inmates alike.

In 2022, the state hired about 400 correctional officers, according to the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services. The department has about 5,100 total positions.

Correctional officers and AFSCME Maryland Council 3 leaders said during a virtual news conference that understaffing has prompted officers to work large amounts of overtime, leading to burnout and more volatile working conditions. Staffing shortages have also put officers and inmates in dangerous situations.

In one incident, a correctional officer was “brutally” assaulted and allegedly lost an eye after being alone at an understaffed post with more than five detainees, said Brittany Cozart, a veteran correctional officer who has worked for the last six years at the Metropolitan Transition Center, a medium-security facility in Baltimore.

There should have been at least two officers at the post, Cozart said.

Correctional officers and AFSCME leaders thanked the Gov. Wes Moore administration for reckoning with the staffing shortages plaguing correctional facilities but pointed out that, according to a recent report from the union, the state needs to hire more than 3,400 officers to safely run its 19 correctional facilities.

Under Public Safety Secretary Carolyn Scruggs — whom Moore named to the position in January — the department has hired 404 employees, 62% more than the number of hires at this point in 2022, secretary spokeswoman Lt. Latoya Gray wrote in an email to The Daily Record.

The department, she wrote, has also participated in 44 hiring events across the state, undertook a “massive” social media and commercial advertising recruitment effort, and dedicated current staff members to support hiring efforts.

Gray wrote that offering higher pay, added bonuses and increased retirement retention incentives have also helped the department recruit new staff members.

“Since day one, Gov. Moore has been very clear that it is a major priority of his to fill these roles and get the state government back to firing on all cylinders,” Gray wrote. “(The Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services) is committed to closing the gap.”

Union leaders also admonished Gov. Larry Hogan administration for not taking the staffing shortages seriously and eliminating empty positions to lower the number of vacancies at the state’s correctional facilities.

“It was all sleight of hand, basically, that allowed them to then go to the press and (the Department of Legislative Services) and others and say, ‘Oh, we don’t have the vacancy problems that people contend we do,’ ” Patrick Moran, president of AFSCME Council 3, said of the Hogan administration.

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Maryland Council 3, represents about 45,000 public employees, including the state’s correctional officers.

Michael Ricci, a spokesman for the former governor, rejected Moran’s claims.

In an email to The Daily Record, Ricci wrote that the Hogan administration instituted “record raises” for state employees across the board, streamlined the hiring process, implemented incentives for new hires and referrals and added special regional bonuses for hard-to-recruit areas.

“As a result of these efforts, the state saw its largest number of hires for correctional officers since 2013,” Ricci wrote.

In 2013, the state hired about 600 correctional officers. That number dropped for each of the next three years, dipping well below 100 in 2016, according to the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services.

Annual correctional officer hires rose each of the next few years until reaching about 500 in 2020.

“It’s sad but not surprising to see that AFSCME leaders remain weirdly obsessed with Gov. Hogan,” Ricci wrote.

Rownite Stevens, a correctional officer sergeant who for the last 16 years has worked at Eastern Correctional Institution, a medium security facility in Westover, part of Somerset County, said it was frustrating trying to work with the Hogan administration to conduct previous staffing analyses.

She and others said during the press conference that the Hogan administration ignored their concerns and didn’t share information about the staffing shortages with them.

She thanked the Moore administration for working with the team that completed a recent union report, compiled after 16 correctional officers and AFSCME Council 3 leaders and members visited each of the state’s correctional facilities.

As part of its report, the union also recommended that the state decentralize and expedite its hiring process, restore wages based on years of services, provide lucrative retirement packages and increase employee incentives.

Stevens, also the president of the local AFSCME chapter for Eastern Correctional Institution, said the state’s correctional facilities have been understaffed for years.

“Without safer staffing levels, the safety of everyone in the facilities (is) sacrificed. Officers are working 80 hours a week … plus they’re working overtime,” Stevens said.

Between July 2020 and December 2021, correctional officers worked an average of 12 overtime hours per week, raising the risk of burnout, which is especially dangerous inside a correctional facility. When understaffing was at its worst, assaults inside the facilities were most frequent, according to a budget analysis.

Correctional officers’ overtime costs have reached $170 million, comprising 11% of all costs in the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services, according to a state budget analysis.

The cost of understaffing is far more than just financial, correctional officers said.

“When you don’t have enough officers, (vital) programs are shut down,” said Oluwadamilola Olaniyan, correctional officer sergeant who’s worked for the last 12 years at Jessup Correctional Institution, a maximum-security facility.

“Inmates are not taken care of, officers cannot effectively do their jobs and the safety of both inmates and officers are neglected,” said Olaniyan, also a local AFSCME president.