There should not be a special session to address the jail staffing crisis.
We don’t say this because we don’t support our state’s corrections officers. We say this because legislators shouldn’t be rewarded for failing to do their jobs.
The West Virginia Division of Corrections has been in an official State of Emergency for almost nine months, but the state’s jails and prisons have been in crisis mode for much longer.
Last week, William Marshall, commissioner of the Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation, told members of the Oversight Committee on Regional Jail and Correctional Facility Authority that the department has 1,022 vacancies. Eight facilities have 40% vacancies or more, with one of those running a vacancy rate of 70%. Some of the administrative positions are being temporarily filled by 300 members of the National Guard. Marshall said it’s likely the State of Emergency will need to continue well past August. But the National Guard cannot fill the empty positions indefinitely, and corrections employees can’t keep working 60- to 80-hour weeks.
Gov. Jim Justice has made several luke-warm statements to the Legislature about getting this problem fixed, and he most recently declared he won’t call a special session until legislators have a consensus on a plan of action.
He shouldn’t call a special session at all. Period.
Legislators had 60 days during the regular session to address the jail staffing crisis. They had two bills on the table to consider, including one that called for a $10,000 across-the-board raise for uniformed officers while providing $6,000 incentive pay. There was also repeated discussion about locality pay.
Instead, lawmakers focused all their time and attention on culture war bills and tax breaks.
While legislators were fixated on children’s gender identity and the state of their genitals, corrections officers were working inhumane hours.
While legislators were debating further restricting women’s bodily autonomy, members of the National Guard were leaving behind their regular lives to plug the holes in a system leaking workers faster than they can be replaced.
While legislators were battling the fictitious “critical race theory” boogeyman, corrections employees were fighting the very real dangers of chronic understaffing.
Lawmakers had plenty of time to rewrite the tax code to the benefit of West Virginia’s wealthiest, but they couldn’t spare more than a few hours to half-heartedly discuss a pay raise for jail employees — and then not actually do anything.
The Legislature had ample opportunity to take a serious look at the staffing crisis and propose reasonable solutions. It chose not to.
That choice should not be rewarded by paying legislators extra to convene for a special session.
Now, if lawmakers would like to donate their time and meet for a special session without pay, we certainly would not object to that. In fact, lawmakers could have their special session pay sent directly to the Division of Corrections to pay employees’ overtime. After all their negligence, it’s the least legislators could do.
