Coming to terms with reality: The causes and effects of staffing shortage in a Colorado prison

• In Event: Correctional Staff Perspectives on Prison Climate: Evidence from the Prison Research & Innovation Initiative

Abstract

Correctional facilities in Colorado are critically short-staffed. We explore the causes and effects of this staffing shortage in a large Colorado state prison. Specifically, we examine the ways that broader labor, health, and political environments shape recruitment and retention of correctional staff. We find that these environmental factors make staff retention difficult, and that short-staffing results in a number of workforce adjustments that further degrade morale and job satisfaction, which results in a vicious cycle through which staffing challenges beget even more staffing challenges. Staffing crises exacerbate diminished morale as the institution scrambles to perform necessary security functions. Staff are reassigned to areas in which they were not trained to work. Overtime and double shifts have increased substantially. These dynamics have had repercussive effects throughout the facility that significantly affect staff and incarcerated people. Programs and services have been severely limited. Because staff are shuffled to posts that they do not typically work, relationships have suffered. Research and innovation are also impacted as staffing burdens must be carefully considered in these processes. We consider the long-term sustainability of correctional facilities in their current form given the range of issues they currently face.

Authors

• Shannon Sliva, University of Denver

• Jeffrey Lin, University of Denver

• Jeff Long, Colorado Department of Corrections