Corrections_Today_Summer_2025_Vol.87_No.2

TECHNOLOGY

Thinking A national correctional staffing crisis A ccording to data from the U.S. Census Bureau, in 2022, the number of people working for state prisons reached its lowest point in over 20 years. 1 In Texas state prisons, about 24% of the correctional officer positions were vacant as of July 2024. 2 The staffing challenges in U.S. correctional facilities, both jails and prisons, have reached a crisis level that is receiving attention from national leaders. On February 28, 2024, Senator Cory Booker (NJ) and Senator Tom Cotton (AR) led a U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary Hearing to generate dialogue on addressing “The Nation’s Correctional Staffing Crisis: Assessing the Toll on Correctional Officers and Incarcerated Persons.” When correctional facilities are challenged with officer staffing, safety concerns and strain on the exist ing officer staff intensifies, fueling the potential for

increasing turnover. The committee’s discussion helped illuminate the impact staffing shortages can have on correctional facilities in maintaining safety and per forming other job-required tasks, such as ensuring constitutionally required access to healthcare. Officer staffing challenges can lead to operational decisions such as having to choose between minimizing safety risks by maintaining an appropriate officer presence in a housing unit or pulling an officer from their post to transport a patient from the housing unit to the clinical area. Unfortunately, many correctional facilities must make these choices daily. During the Senate hearing, One Voice United’s Ste phen Walker referenced the use of tablets and how they are helping with communication. In addition, Mr. John Wetzel, Pennsylvania’s former Secretary of Correc tions, emphasized his belief what correctional facilities need, “It’s technology. It’s creativity. It’s academia. It’s bright young minds coming into the field and thinking differently.”

differently

Providing healthcare into housing units to improve access to care and decrease safety risks

BY SHAWN VALENTA, ELLEN DEBENHAM, AMANDA BROCKMAN, MICHAEL D’ANTICO AND MAXIM CASAS

Corrections Today | Summer 2025

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