Raises may have stabilized confinement officer corps: Sheriff Fries says jail staff turnover is down, but nurses are needed.
By Jeff Wiehe
The News-Sentinel
ALLEN COUNTY, Ind. — Things have been refreshingly odd at the Allen County Jail lately.
According to Allen County Sheriff Ken Fries, turnover among employees is down and the jail is about to have a first in its history: a full staff of confinement officers. The downward trend in confinement officers quitting or leaving has coincided with raises that Fries lobbied County Council for late last year and that went into effect in January.
“Many times it may have been close to fully staffed, but there have always been resignations or constant turnover,” he said. “Historically we’ve taken applications on a daily basis, and testing was an ongoing process. Never before has it been fully staffed so consistently -- with a waiting list.”
Once two vacancies are filled by two future confinement officers who are finishing up at their previous jobs before starting their new gig, the jail will have 124 civilian confinement officers working at a facility that regularly houses around 700 or so inmates at a time. Five others have already gone through some of the required testing and are on a waiting list to work at the jail.
Fries says the raises, which place a starting confinement officer’s salary at $13.18 per hour until a six-month review will bump it up to $13.78, has a lot to do with the trend. Plus, confinement officers who work second shift earn an extra 6 percent while those who work third shift earn an extra 10 percent.
“Historically, we’ve hired people who will quit after the first day, or find out after the first week they’re no longer interested,” Fries said. “They’re not dealing with the upper crest of society.”
Fries also said he doesn’t believe the current state of the economy has played a big part in getting so many applicants, noting that in the past a struggling economy has never produced a flood of job seekers to the jail.
But pay does only so much, Fries said, and he’s tried to give confinement officers more training to make them better equipped for the ever-changing job. The confinement officers receive training periodically in first aid, defense tactics, dealing with the mentally ill and other aspects of their job while the jail is put on lockdown for several hours.
Some confinement officers are also being trained to handle special tasks normally performed by sworn officers in the department, such as transporting inmates to court. Fries hopes to have some of the sworn officers who are working in the jail out on the street soon because of such training, though he believes all sworn officers should work in the jail for at least a year.
The confinement officers are also equipped with “stab vests” and tasers now, Fries said, adding safety to an already dangerous job.
Now, though, Fries would like to work on getting enough nurses for the jail. Currently, there are 20 employees that belong to the jail’s medical staff, which includes nurses and paramedics. Fries is looking to add to registered nurses to the staff when he can.
“Our biggest problem is hiring nurses,” Fries said. “Nurses make good money in the private sector, and we can’t get the RNs we need.”
Copyright 2008 The News-Sentinel