Supporting Jail Staff

Challenges

• Reduced staff capacity in correctional facilities reduces the ability of jails to adequately support reentry efforts. Operational priorities in the jail take precedence over reentry when there are staffing limitations, and reentry staff many be pulled into other duties. With already high turnover rates prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the post-pandemic decline in jail staff necessitates changes to improve workplace culture. Correctional staff are underpaid in the United States, with the median salary for correctional officers being approximately $58,000. Since 2020, local jails have seen a seven percent decline in workforce (Nam-Sonenstein and Sanders 2024).
• Even with ongoing recruitment and retention strategies in place, the restrictive and traumatic nature of the role incentivizes many to either leave the field or pursue a different career path. Experts described difficulties with staffing shortages: “Everybody’s so short [staffed], I mean we’re short on 130 correctional officers, which is extremely difficult and challenging for us.” Another shared “I hear from incarcerated people to not forget about the staff, and if they’re saying it, then you know it’s bad.”

Opportunities

• Providing flexibility and necessary supports for jail staff has the potential to foster better staff retention outcomes. One meeting participant described success in the creation of a facility officer role, which allows staff to work up to 30 hours a week under an hourly rate. This adaptability is especially beneficial for women, offering opportunities to manage family care responsibilities. After a year, the officer is given a badge and additional incentive stay, often transitioning into a full-time position: “So they’re really doing on-the-job training the amount of time they’re in for the part time, and that way they know if they really want to be in this field or not. But that’s been really successful for us.”
• An analysis of findings from a two-day workshop with jail stakeholders provides some insight into better supporting jail staff (Russo et al. 2018). Participants noted that the culture in the corrections field is to focus on surveillance rather than behavioral change and shifting the correctional officer role toward a more human-services role may attract a larger talent pool. Participants also identified improved work conditions, such as setting workload standards, creating more active roles in decision-making processes, and investing in leadership development, as important factors. According to the TJC panel experts, jail staff often receive little training on communication and understanding of trauma and/or behavioral health issues. Dutchess County, New York, and Franklin County, Massachusetts, have provided their jail staff with training in trauma to better understand needs in the jail population, with good results.
• Another possibility for improving the jail workplace experience mentioned by expert panel members lies in cell phone policies. Many jurisdictions enforce cell phone restrictions and prohibit officers from carrying cell phones on the job. One expert declared that permitting cell phone access for jail staff has not been linked to an increase in contraband. To further promote flexible workplace practices, jail jurisdictions should consider more leniency in cell phone regulations.
• Finally, jails should provide supportive services to all staff to mitigate the traumatic effects that come with the job. One study found that over half of jail officers experience PTSD (Jaegers et al. 2019). Jails may consider offering trauma-informed resources, mental health counseling, and other supports to acknowledge the workplace toll and respond accordingly. As trauma-informed approaches to interventions for incarcerated people continue to expand, insights from that work and the understanding of the supports that people need can be applied to staff interventions as well.