Nashville prison faces 'emergency staffing issues'

A state prison in Nashville that houses men with mental illnesses is facing a critical shortage of corrections officers.

The prison's leadership has put out an "all hands on deck" call, characterized the situation as "emergency staffing issues" and reassigned day shift so remaining officers can man posts as needed, according to documents obtained by The Tennessean.

The manpower shortage at the Lois M. DeBerry Special Needs Facility worsened after the prison implemented a 28-day schedule — a change intended to save $1.4 million statewide in wage costs.

The new staffing schedule has been implemented in prisons statewide, including others in Nashville that already had high turnover rates. Corrections officers moved from a traditional 40-hour work week with overtime to a system that requires overtime when the hours worked exceed 212 in a 28-day work period.

The new schedule didn't cause the manpower shortages, but it did make it harder for the workers to plan for family obligations and part-time jobs.

Riverbend Maximum Security System, Tennessee Prison for Women and Lois M. DeBerry Special Needs Facility had the three highest turnover rates for officers in the state, according to documents the Tennessee Department of Correction prepared for a December budget hearing.

Riverbend had a 49.1 percent turnover rate. The women's prison had a 47.5 percent turnover rate, and Lois DeBerry had a 36.9 percent turnover rate.

Robert Bell, the training specialist at Lois DeBerry, characterized the situation as an "emergency staffing" issue in a July 2 email.

The same day, Stevenson Nixon, the warden, ordered that any non-security employees who had previously worked in that capacity be ready to provide "coverage in ANY area the shift supervisor is in need of assistance."

Some officers have had to work back-to-back shifts. Calling back former corrections officers who hold other jobs within the prison is intended to give relief to those officers.

"Effective immediately, there will no longer be requirements for any staff members to work back to back overtime in a 24 hour period," Nixon wrote.

Another email issued the same day by the associate warden of security, Charles Simmons, directed the day shift corrections officers to work other hours.

"Due to our present staffing shortage on our Security Team, it is necessary to suspend our present Day Shift staff until further notice," Simmons wrote "All officers assigned to Day Shift will be used daily to man vacant mandatory posts on each shift to allow us to continue operating the facility as a safe and secure prison, as well as, relieve your coworkers of excessive hours and days required to work."

The Tennessee State Employees Association, the union for state workers, opposed the 28-day shift rule because of concerns it would cut down on overtime pay and make it harder for officers to schedule part-time jobs outside of the prison system. Bryan Merritt, the president of the union, said he looks forward to talks with the agency to resolve the problem. He said he's heard reports from multiple facilities over the past three to four weeks about corrections officers having to work more double shifts because of staffing problems.

"When you start saying at the last minute we need you to stay and work a second shift or we're going to take your regular days off and it's going to be rotational — anything such as child care or caring for extra family members or part-time jobs — all those things have to be factored in."

The "fear of the unknown may supersede the reality" for some workers, he said. The schedule was not rolled out everywhere at once, but implemented in a staggered fashion. The 28-day schedule can be adjusted to address concerns, but that's not the biggest problem, Merritt said.

"The best starting point is for them to fill up some recruitment classes, and they are going to have to overlap some positions and have some people coming out trained and ready to work," Merritt said. "With the staffing levels right now, they have no other option than to work doubles and extra shifts. They can't leave these positions unmanned and there's no one else to fill them. We've got a lot of work to do. There's no doubt about it."

The Tennessee Department of Correction has communicated to the union that it is working to address the problems, Merritt said.

"We want to maximize that opportunity," he said.

Alison Randgaard, a spokeswoman for the Tennessee Department of Correction, said a 28-day schedule is commonly used among law officer agencies.

"As the largest law enforcement agency in the state, the Tennessee Department of Correction moved to the 28-day schedule for correctional officers as part of our ongoing focus on recruitment and retention and industry best practices, as well as to more efficiently manage the workforce in order to benefit both our staff and Tennessee taxpayers."

The state workers' union surveyed Correction employees last year after plans for the new rule were announced. Seventy percent answered they felt safer at work four years ago than they did at the time of the survey. Seventy percent also reported insufficient shift coverage.

High turnover rates among the security force at the state prison system are nothing new. The statewide rate stood at 19.5 percent in 2010 but climbed to 32 percent in 2013. Last year, the turnover rate dipped to 29.6 percent.

"As with any law enforcement field, turnover is a normal occurrence," Randgaard said. "We continue to look at new ways to recruit and retain the best and brightest employees while also remaining mindful of our responsibility to the taxpayers of Tennessee."

She cited the closure of the Charles Bass Correctional Complex last year as an example of the Tennessee Department of Correction operating more efficiently.

Corrections officers received a 5 percent pay raise July 1. However, Corrections Commissioner Derrick D. Schofield admitted in a memo that wages for state corrections officers still lagged the market standard.

"This increase has been in the making for a while and comes after months of planning, numerous meetings, a series of budget hearings and the closing of a Middle Tennessee facility," Schofield wrote. "Self-funding this assignment differential wasn't easy, but it was necessary. This assignment differential moves our correctional officers closer to market standard."

Entry salary for a correctional officer is $2,148 a month, according to the Tennessee Department of Correction website.

Reach Tom Wilemon at 615-726-5961 and on Twitter @TomWilemon.