Erica Smith
The Decatur Daily, Ala.
DECATUR, Ala. — For the first time in at least six years, the corrections officers’ positions at the Morgan County Jail are fully staffed.
“We’ve been down single digits maybe twice in my six years,” said Morgan County Sheriff’s Chief Deputy Alan Host. “The rest of the time we’ve been down double digits, anywhere from 10 to 35.”
Host said they have 15 corrections officers (COs) and two supervisors for each of the four shifts totaling 68 corrections officers. He said it takes a special kind of person to be a CO.
“In this field, corrections officers, it’s not for everybody. It’s a difficult job. The people that are here want to be here. You’ve got to love the job to put up with some of the things that are required of you. It’s definitely not for everybody,” Host said. “It’s stressful here. And then if we have young people working here and then they’ve got to go home to family life, which is great, but it can add up and add a lot on people.
“Those that stick it out and find that balance are very successful.”
Morgan County Commission Chairman Ray Long said they were down so many COs that they had to reevaluate.
“We gave them a pay raise to encourage more people to come. And that really helped, when you can pay more,” he said. “We had to really get creative to do that because we don’t have any extra funds hardly to just pay people. So, we had to eliminate a few positions and roll that money that was in the budget back into pay raises.”
Long said the employees that already worked at the jail liked the idea of a pay raise to hire more COs.
“They were working a lot of overtime. Of course, a lot of them liked the overtime because it’s good money,” he said. “But it was kind of wearing on a lot of them to have to work that much overtime. It’s been a blessing for us to know they have a full staff.”
Host said raising COs’ pay was a big factor.
“For us, having COs that are compensated, well-paid, and we’ve got a good program for our insurance, too,” he said. “But you can’t force people to work. There are people who fill out applications, go through the whole interview process and the background check. Then we put them in a little school, a mini academy, and then we put them out on the floor to shadow somebody. There are some who go through that whole process, and when they get on the floor, hands to the plow so to speak, doing the job and they’re like, ‘I wasn’t cut out for this.’”
Many, however, stick it out.
“But fortunately, here lately, people have come and said, ‘Look, I understand this is a difficult job, but I can do this job.’ They are sticking with the process and the job. Of course, the more you learn, the more confident you become, and the better you become at your job.”
Host said some of the supervisors have been there many years, but the majority of their frontline COs have been there less than 18 months.
“The jail is not typically a place you want to work. You have to have nearly a calling for that,” Long said. “For the sheriff, fortunately, that cycle is starting to turn around where some of them are staying longer.”
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