Oklahoma Prisons struggle to maintain staffing levels

By Cary Aspinwall The Tulsa World HOMINY, Okla. (AP) -- To fill several dozen open jobs providing security at the Dick Conner Correctional Center this past year, administrators interviewed 46 candidates. Twenty-eight were hired, but 33 have since left -- many for jobs in other industries. "It's hard to make much headway," Department of Corrections spokesman Jerry Massie said. There are jobs for the taking in corrections -- if you pass the background check and don't mind working lots of overtime in remote locales, surrounded by convicted criminals and a backdrop of razor wire and locked corridors. In an economy where full-time jobs with benefits have been tough to come by, there's great job security in securing prisons. The Tulsa World toured the Dick Conner facility last week, on a day when administrators interviewed candidates for nine open jobs -- and filled five. "We're still well below our funded level (for staffing)," Deputy Warden James Reed said. Officers who stick around often get stuck working double shifts, because a minimum of 19 fixed security posts must be staffed for each shift. "That's what's really driving morale down now is the number of doubles," he said. "It's a rough life." At the Oklahoma State Reformatory, the medium- and minimum-security prison in Granite, smack dab between Elk City and Altus in western Oklahoma, they're struggling to stay even 50 percent staffed, Massie said. The corrections business -- in both private and state-run facilities -- is booming, causing some job seekers to take a second look at the field. This may be especially true in Oklahoma, which ranks No. 1 in the nation for incarceration of women and No. 4 for incarceration of men, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics. Last week, a cheery meeting room at an airport-adjacent LaQuinta Inn & Suites in Tulsa was lined with brochures and laptops, ready for any applicants who showed up looking for a job with Corrections Corporation of America. With 66 facilities nationwide, CCA is the country's largest private prison company, reporting $1.7 billion in revenue for 2011. "They'll be able to leave today with a verbal offer if they meet the basic qualifications for the job," recruiter Abby Stanley said. A lot of times, people don't think of corrections as a viable career, Stanley said. Employees at Corrections Corporation of America are quick to point out that the company's current CEO, Damon Hininger, started as a corrections officer. He earned nearly $3.7 million last year, records show. Stanley was traveling from Tulsa to Stillwater, Ada and Oklahoma City last week, looking for job candidates for CCA's private prisons in Cushing and Holdenville. "There has definitely been an uptick in interest," Stanley said. "We'll often see people who've been laid off from construction or a factory that closed. Our positions are very stable." That stability was a draw for Katelyn Hawkins, a 25-year-old Tulsa resident who showed up to interview at the CCA job fair last week. She recently had a baby and was looking for a job that would have benefits and a steady paycheck. "I'd like something I can grow in -- but don't need two to three more years of school to grow," she said. Sgt. Dan Gross, a unit supervisor at Dick Conner, has seen a lot of co-workers come and go in his eight years at the facility. But he likes the overtime and the work he does, he said. "Like any other job, there are ups and downs," he said. Although Dick Conner loses a lot of its employees to jobs in surrounding casinos and oil fields, prospective hires might want to know that the benefits are good -- 401k retirement; medical, dental and eye insurance -- Warden Terry Martin said. Department of Corrections facilities have tried recruiting at job fairs, showing up at "yellow ribbon" hiring events for military veterans returning from combat. "A lot of people don't know we're out here," Martin said. If you can handle the hours and the work, the Department of Corrections has plenty of opportunities for advancement, he said. Deputy Warden Reed worked in Probation and Parole for more than a decade before transferring to Dick Conner. On his second day there, five inmates got stabbed. Of Oklahoma's correctional facilities, Dick Conner has especially struggled with violence in recent years, Reed said. About half of the prison's offenders are serving time for violent crimes, many with sentences that must be 85 percent completed before they get a chance at parole. Some have life sentences, and they may think they don't have anything to lose. The staff have tried to quell violence by creating an atmosphere of mutual respect, Reed said. There are frequent moments where an employee will be the only officer on duty in a dining hall of 160 inmates -- armed only with pepper spray. Reed tells new recruits at orientation: "This job's not for everybody." Published: Mon, Jul 2, 2012