By Liz Zemba
Tribune-Review
GREENSBURG, Pa. — The Fayette County Prison Board hired 10 part-time corrections officers on Wednesday, prompting allegations from a union official that the county is using part-time workers to avoid filling full-time positions.
The board voted 5-0 in favor of the hires, with Commissioner Angela Zimmerlink abstaining. The nine men and one woman include five with military experience. The county’s salary board created the positions last week at a starting wage of $15.62 per hour.
With the hires, the jail now has 25 part-time officers and 41 full-time officers, not counting the warden and several officers, said Dominic Carnicella, human resources director.
The part-time hires are expected to reduce overtime costs, half of which Carnicella said are incurred when full-time officers call off. According to the controller’s office, the county in June paid $13,588 in overtime to guards.
Warden Brian Miller said two officers on average call off daily.
“If it’s a holiday, triple it,” Miller said. “If it’s a weekend, double it.”
Mike Hicks, president of United Mine Workers Local 9113, accused the board of hiring part-timers in favor of filling full-time positions. Although the union’s contract with the county calls for only 40 full-time bid positions, Hicks said traditionally there have been five additional full-time “floater” positions.
“It’s been more than 40 forever,” Hicks said. “So why are they eliminating jobs?”
Hicks said six full-time floater vacancies were created through promotions and the addition of a women’s holding area on the jail’s fourth floor. The county is using part-time workers to fill the positions, he alleged, rather than hire more full-time officers.
In an unrelated matter, District Attorney Jack Heneks, who is a prison board member, questioned the criteria used in deciding which inmates will be housed in neighboring counties’ facilities to alleviate overcrowding at the aging Fayette lockup.
Heneks said a preliminary hearing in an attempted-homicide case had to be continued last week because the defendant was sent to another county’s jail. He said the jail failed to ensure the man was back in Fayette for the hearing, forcing the postponement.
Heneks said only inmates who have been sentenced or who are incarcerated for parole violations should be housed elsewhere. Those who are awaiting preliminary hearings should remain in the Fayette jail.
Miller said the number of inmates who must be housed everywhere to avert overcrowding exceeds the number who have been sentenced. In addition, he said there are a number of inmates that other facilities refuse to take.
Zimmerlink noted the problem has been ongoing and suggested a “fix” be found.
“Build a new jail and we’ll fix the problem,” Miller said.
“That’s not the answer,” Zimmerlink said. “It’s fixing the administrative problems that’s the answer.”
Miller said the prison currently has 263 inmates with another 84 housed in Bedford, Butler, Cambria and Greene counties. Sean Lally, controller, said the county is on track to spend as much as $1.5 million this year in rental fees for inmates.
A prison working group created by Commissioner Al Ambrosini has been exploring ways to build a new prison, but their findings are nonbinding.