If they paid these people right. The exhaustion and high turnover rate would cease. They want these CO’s to work their ass off for crumbs and this is why they aren’t staying.
I'm a C/O and when I started a little while ago at my intuition we would get held at the prison at least 7 times a month due to how understaffed we were, it was really bad because we knew for a fact that the inmates knew we were tired and not able to function as we should, luckily it's gotten better.
80 is more than what's mandatory now, but until they increase the pay or I finally decide to change careers like most of the other officers have, I'll just have to bear through.
Greatest thing my department ever did was get rid of mandatory ot, the officers are much happier and productivity has risen tremendously. I know every department can’t do this but it’s a great feeling to know you can go home if you wanna in the morning.
Tier Talk absolutely, it’s been a life changer for sure. Leaves are down sick days are down, and ot has risen but It’s being spread. Easier to take ot when you can plan around it it’s hard to live or even wanna come to work when you’re nervous all the time for that call that ruins all your plans.
Yep. If management refuses to address short staffing issues for years and years, and staff members are getting hit with mandatory overtime every other day (sometimes EVERY day) then this is bound to happen and management should 100% be held responsible.
In Florida our corrections officers are being overworked. $33,000. And underpaid. They are often overlooked when it comes to pay raises. Good video bro.
First time watching. Recommended, my brother & cousin check it out. Good, valid points are made. He's High-Max Sec., outnumbered 60+ to 1. Wth... what's being done about this? It isn't right. I'd always imagined it was stressful but damn. I hope he looks you up, it's not right. Great platform & thank you. To all you CO's. Mad respect. God bless.
Oh suggestion for anyone that's about to take on this career...get a legit weight lifting routine. You stand a better chance of functioning for longer hours when your body is well conditioned. Also consider changing your diet...actually eat and train like a athlete. Two reasons, your life is on the line, and you need to be able to physically perform at your best. I might go vegan for a while, and I've been doing spin classes with my weight training.
It would be great if facility heads were fined for letting their prisons go understaffed past a certain number of days. Not only do our prisons need more staff, they need better trained staff, and better paid staff.
When I was a supervisor there was at least one time that I allowed an officer to take a power nap because he was exhausted and the time I am recalling I was also on a double. I watched the post and after a short time he felt better enough to finish the shift. I've seen so many in management positions, that exempt them from what we called the freeze, that seemed gleeful, even vengeful toward some of these officers and never seemed to consider what they were struggling with. Hears my thought. There is a difference between going to sleep, falling asleep and passing out. Like any issue or guilty or innocents, all aggravating and mitigating factors should be considered. As far as pay goes, that often the first thing we hear. If they only paid better. It's hardly about merely pay. It's about retention of staff to fill posts. That's a whole different subject.
I just got offered a position here in Texas. I was told we have two options as far as shift goes. 4 days on 4 days off at 12hrs a day...or 6 days on 3 days off at 8hrs a day. The catch is some of those 12hr shifts offer a $4,000-5,000 bonus if you sign on to work there for at least 1 year. Being in a situation where I need the money getting paid a salary plus overtime, plus a bonus doesn't sound terrible. However it's a 1 hour 20min drive so that's 3hrs of driving 12hr shift. If overtime is called I'm going to be a zombie. I might have to sleep in my car, because no way I'm driving all the way back to Houston. But hey I'm not in a position to complain, because from what I gather Huntsville is paying more than a lot of other places...I take my physical Friday and start the academy on Monday. I thought about driving trucks on the side, but with these hours I might not be doing that.
@@TierTalk They have dorm rooms for us so I only have to drive home inn the weekend. Now once my regular shift starts I'll either stay on campus or sleep in my car lol. I'm not making that trip and missing out on 3hrs of sleep.
Our officers have a cap of 60 OT hrs after the 84 since we're on a 12 HR shift. With our union reps, any non-probationary officers can only be mandated a max of 24 OT hrs but with officer under a year, the LT or Sgt can/will mandate the rookies up to 60 OT hrs. There is times the officer wants the OT but doesn't show up or "called in sick" consistently but no repercussions after I have a cap, to myself, 36 OT or 7 days in a row. I don't mind doing 11 or 12 days in a row to help my brothers and sisters with staffing but there definitely needs to be some accountability on some of the other individuals that request or take others OT and don't show up for shift.
Twice in my last year I worked 24 hours. I was told that the Regional office could not find an available supervisor (they didn't want to run a shift) but the fact is that I could not desert my post. In short each of us is responsible for our own actions, however the administration that allows short staffing and ignores the amount of OT being worked is actually at fault. At one meeting I asked a suit from head office why we didn't have more supervisors, and he said all the shifts were covered. That we were all working OT to cover didn't make any difference, we would have had to create a situation where the warden call and said that the institution was in dire straits, in other words we had to create chaos to get any attention but staff that had integrity and pushed through the tough times weren't entitled to back up. A policy of just responding to emergencies is not healthy for the staff, the organisation or the inmates. Our problem is that so many COs and front line supervisors just make it work, so the system isn't as aware as it might be. We were micromanaged, yet when I reported that I didn't have enough staff in the jail to search, the response was "think outside the box", and that was a policy violation. In staff training at one time the rule of thumb was that you didn't leave the line short to achieve the mandatory training, and that became you can take staff off the line, to do whatever you need to get it done. The admin, head office, or whatever body reports to the state/province legislator is absolutely responsible for the staffing issues, and the COs do not need that guilt on top of all the other crap dumped on them.
working a lot of hours, have sleep apnea. Machine broke and took Ins. 3 months to get me a new machine. I did fall asleep during that time. Inmates had respect for me and the "one time" I fell asleep they woke me up before another CO came into unit. the inmates actually behaved better and nobody was in danger lol.. I can say all of this now, I am retired. It was a medical reason and after I got a new machine I didn't get sleepy anymore. They didn't do it for favors. It honestly was out of respect. I gave them respect right off from the beginning and explained I gave it if I was given it back.
Tier Talk that's just a quick summary of my thoughts my man! Like I said I got almost 5 years working inside correctional facilities. Not many years. But I still have some knowledge! I can always learn more!
C Kez same as on street officers and firefighters. Taxpayers don't want to pay for good staff in adequate numbers until it falls apart..then they scream and blame the officer instead of the system and themselves
We don't need jails. That's nonsense. We have too many jails already that are being filled just for money. The prison complex industry is a pay for play business with millions going into the pockets of private owners. Burdening our legal system and tax dollars. Why do you think we're trillions in debt? A portion is bcuz we can't pay our bills bcuz we're busy paying out damages from lawsuit from all that the system gets wrong.
Worked as a Correctional Officer for 24 years..always mandated to work overtime..so understaffed..management didnt care..when I finally retired I was beat..this job isn't for everyone
Then admin will schedule additional training on your days off. And admin will never run training on their days off. A lot of practices send some distinct messages
Some don't get mandated some are expected to volunteer .We feel as if we don't then will look like we're less able to get support from our supervisor staff.
The problem is most facilities are short on officers, which makes more work for the ones who actually show up for work. I am a co in Texas and on some units they have mandatory overtime because there so short on officers. Corrections is not for everyone and there is a lot of turnover which makes it hard on everyone else. Fact is long hours and little sleep because you have to work overtime will cause you to dose sometime especially if your in a guard tower alone watching fences. It's not 100% on the officer the agency is at fault some for not having enough officers on facilities to run them without overtime.
Take a day off. Rest. Don't come to work ill prepared. It could cost you your life or even worse, someone else could die on your watch. Wake the fuck up or stay your sleepy ass in bed, at home.
Tier Talk pls keep doing what ur doing. I'm medical in FL doc that's been privatized along with the rest of the state and it's a fuckin joke what their doing while wasting most the budget on preventable medical problems, there's gota be a kick back to admin, but that's a different story
Well hopefully they investigate that pretty soon. I have a friend of mine, his name is Gary York, and he investigated high-level corruption in the state of Florida.
Tier Talk nice I'll check him out, but my cynical side is hopeless to much change, theres just to much tax payers money to be made for them to allow common sense
john thompson I can’t argue that. I think at this point all we can do is point out awareness and hope that someone in the right position to make the needed change.
With as much OT as some of our depts Are working, a lot of the blame has to go to the administrations and their ways of cutting corners to save a buck, at the safety of officers "Overtime is cheaper than hiring and training new officers"... we hear it all the time!
@@TierTalk Whats worse is here in our Dept. (County Sheriffs Office) we run the 3rd largest jail in the state, and last numbers show us understaffed by 70 officers, and our administration is allowing 5p officers to go TDY for State Law Enforcement Academy Certification... Prior to the graduation of our State Certified Corrections Academy... Going to put us in an even deeper hole in officers presence...
To many hours. Not enough backing from politicians and the public more and more and more rules that keep correction officer doing their jobs. The criminals have more rights then law enforcement
And also all 300+ pound 21 year old thats never hit 5ft y'all isn't helping at all. At this point it's almost like they're hunting for the bare minimum to do the bare minimum
I agree that when they are forcing staff to stay over there is a bit of mutual responsibility. I, as a supervisor, have told all my staff that if they are exhausted to let me know and I will put them in positions that will help to keep them awake. So as an example I won't put someone who is really tired on perimeter patrol or a tower. I'll put them as a security officer. A post that they walk around and are up on their feet a lot. It sounds like a jerk move but why put them in a position that they will be more likely to fail and then act disappointed when they do.
Chaos Hallowman that makes total sense. As a supervisor, you need to take care of your people and make sure they can do the job. It’s great that you check on them and make adjustments if needed.
Yes if you can accommodate that officer then yes. But then it falls back on people taking advantage of that because they are lazy. But sounds great if you can do it for the ones who honestly need it!
C Kez I agree it can be manipulated. I always try to keep track of those that are doing the majority of OT. And they also understand that if someone else needs to switch to a different post it maybe them that will cover it since they got out of it once. A kind of pay back to someone else that may need it
If you work in a controlled areas, most facilities do not allow cell phones. That is a major security concern. But, there are some that still allow it. Especially, some jails. But it should be universally no
Civil Service says an officer is an officer is an officer. If you take the job, you know when you are subject to being mandated. Posts are posts, and one cannot pick and choose which officers get assigned. What is the supervisor supposed to do? Tell one guy he looks tired so stick someone else?
The purpose of this video was to show the need to work on better incentives for those looking to enter the field of corrections. I understand what you believe we signed up for, but right now we are getting mandated left and right and we are human. So, I understand your perspective, but this video is the highlight concerns that go way pass the path we swore to take. It goes directly into the heart of what we need to be effective at our profession. Also if the officer looks tired then yes they should be replaced. We can not be effective if we are exhausted.
I worked at facility that normalized you can do 16s 10 days straight. You get caught dozing for even 40 seconds you’re in admin. They expect a lot out of us. I didn’t mind doing couple 16s like maybe 5-7 month. But it gets demanding. And admin encouraging us to drink 3 monsters and eat; isn’t right for our health. I just don’t get out of it you want to encourage healthy fit officers; then you want to normalize do anything and everything to get through a 16. I mean look at the danger of working high risk pod when your on your 5th 16. Then the case of overtime whores; or people just hurting and need OT. Evidently it’s unacceptable to fall asleep on post; but no one should lose they’re job. We’re humans; corrections normalizes some horrible health habits. I think all facilities should look into aggressive higher interest surges, Corrections in New Mexico is normalized. I was recruited out of High School; like military recruiter. I think advancing pay, man numbers and possibly utilizing a reserve pool. Officers that only work 2-3 days a week. I met former Buffalo PD; who did 2 shifts a week as a CO. And then would go hit the streets for PD for 5 days. Corrections needs to continue to move away from the guard connotation. It needs valor and appearance just like the streets do. I think Corrections is just plagued with so many different issues.
