By Katie Smolen
The Tribune-Democrat, Johnstown, Pa.
EBENSBURG, Pa. — The Cambria County Prison has added digital training for its staff in an effort to reduce overtime costs.
Second Deputy Warden George Rozum told Cambria County Prison Board members on Wednesday that in an attempt to reduce the number of “in-classroom” training hours that the staff completes annually, training director Jessica Greathouse is trying a new approach and has taken the initiative to transfer several lessons into digital formats that the staff can complete while on a shift.
“This should greatly help with the staffing shortages by reducing the amount of classroom time each staff member has to complete while still meeting our mandatory training requirements,” Rozum said. “In addition, this will simultaneously help in reducing overtime costs since staffing coverage will not be needed for employees to complete the digital classes.”
Digital training began June 19. The prison saw a nearly depleted overtime budget by fall 2022 from shortage in staff and hospital coverage for inmates, sick employees and vacations.
During the meeting, the board was presented with two staff resignations and four hires.
Rozum told the board that one full-time corrections officer position is open and that there are currently no per-diem staff.
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