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Pickets over staffing crisis in Michigan prisons amid fights and curfews

Correctional officers at three Upper Peninsula prisons are planning information strikes this week to draw attention to staff shortages that they say have led to unsafe working conditions across the state.

The picket came nearly a month after the correctional officers union unsuccessfully submitted a formal request to the Democratic administration of Governor Gretchen Whitmer to deploy the Michigan National Guard to address the staffing shortage.

Since then, the union has been sending out weekly updates on prison conditions, detailing cases of inmates throwing bodily fluids at guards, lock-ups, repeated fights among inmates and the confiscation of contraband cell phones and weapons.

Heidi Washington, director of the Michigan Department of Corrections, sent a memo to staff last week outlining some actions the department plans to take to alleviate the shortage. In addition, the department last week pledged its support for a new bill that would repeal training requirements for correctional officers.

At least four Upper Peninsula lawmakers — three Republicans and one Democrat — will participate in pickets this week, scheduled to take place near the Chippewa Correctional Facility in Kincheloe on Monday, the Baraga Correctional Facility in Baraga on Tuesday and the Marquette Branch Prison in Marquette on Wednesday.

Staffing shortages have plagued Michigan's prisons for nearly eight years and the department has repeatedly failed to address the problem, said Sen. Ed McBroom, a Republican from Vulcan who plans to participate in the picket in Marquette. The situation is “more urgent than ever” because officers have been repeatedly forced to work overtime, he said.

“They're ruining their family life,” McBroom said. “They're ruining their families. And we're not a good faith employer to them.”

McBroom argued that the department must immediately conduct a “triage” to increase the number of officers across the state, raise salaries to compete with neighboring states, and offer better health care and pension benefits to retirees.

“The department doesn’t seem to want to admit that there is a serious problem,” McBroom said.

In an Aug. 5 letter to the correctional officers union, the Justice Department said some of the information provided painted “an inaccurate and incomplete picture of staffing levels and conditions.” The department has invested about $55 million in new hire and retention bonuses and consolidated operations at some locations, including closing several “units” at the Baraga and Marquette facilities to free up staff, the letter said.

“As we have previously expressed to the Michigan Corrections Organization, we look forward to working with them to address these difficult issues as we value their partnership in finding solutions to our shared challenges,” said Jenni Riehle, a spokeswoman for the Michigan Department of Corrections.

“People are exhausted”

State Rep. Jenn Hill (D-Marquette) said she has heard from residents about the staffing issues since she began knocking on doors during her run for the House in 2022. Last week, she said, she spoke with recruiters at the Alger and Baraga county fairs and toured the Baraga prison.

“I've heard firsthand from my constituents that people are being asked to work 16-hour shifts over and over again,” Hill said. “People are exhausted. You can't make plans.”

State Reps. David Prestin (R-Cedar River) and Greg Markkanen (R-Hancock) also planned to join the picket lines in Kinceloe and Baraga, respectively.

Local 526M of the Michigan Corrections Organization (SEIU) unsuccessfully lobbied the governor last month for the deployment of the Michigan National Guard, arguing that the problem had been plaguing the state's prisons for several years and had reached a critical point.

The Department of Corrections' roughly 5,500 correctional officers oversee the incarceration of nearly 33,000 felons in 26 facilities. The union said in July that nearly half of Michigan's 26 facilities have a vacancy rate above 20%, and five facilities have a rate above 30%.

The Department of Corrections told lawmakers in a report this year that it recruited and hired more than 400 non-warrant employees and 861 new correctional officers in fiscal year 2023, but the department also recorded a total of 1,167 attritions during the same period.

For the past three weeks, the Michigan Corrections Organization has sent out a weekly newsletter summarizing July incidents at Kincheloe, Marquette and Jackson prisons.

At Marquette, one of the most tense prisons, officials have documented cases of inmates throwing an “unknown liquid” through the bars of their cells at officers, including the warden and his deputy. In another incident, it was confirmed to be “bodily fluid,” the union said in a statement.

In July, officers broke up nearly 20 fights in the prison, including by using pepper spray and chemical weapons and by firing a warning shot from a rifle in the yard, the statement said.

“The warning shot had no effect on the prisoners and the fight escalated into an assault,” said the report released in late July. “Officers responded to break up the incident and detain the prisoners.”

The vacancy rate at Marquette, the report said, is 33%, resulting in approximately 785 hours of overtime for correctional officers and 88 violations of a department policy that prohibits more than 32 consecutive hours of overtime. In addition, during the documented period of July 1-28, there were 519 “closed” vacancies, meaning no officers were stationed at a required post in the prison.

At the G. Robert Cotton Correction Facility in Jackson, the vacancy rate was 36 percent in July, and at the Chippewa Correctional Facility in Kincheloe, it was 27 percent, according to union data.

Considering travelling staff units

In an Aug. 12 memo to staff, Washington told employees that the Department of Corrections was exploring the possibility of deploying “permanent mobile staff units” to assist in the facilities with the least need, and that it was continuing to send volunteers to assist in some branches. Fifty of them were sent to the Marquette Branch of the prison earlier this month.

Washington said the department is looking for new employees at job fairs across the state and examining what barriers to employment are hindering recruitment efforts, including housing, child care or economic opportunities elsewhere.

“We recognize the sacrifices you are making to ensure our facilities remain operational as we continue to fill open positions,” Washington said in the memo. “We know that the more you have to work, the less time you can spend in your communities and, more importantly, with your families.”

On Thursday, the department issued a call to action on a bill Hill introduced earlier that day that would remove the requirement that recruits have at least 15 college credits to be eligible to work as an officer. That requirement is in addition to the 16 weeks of training recruits must complete.

A waiver has allowed officers to be contracted if they agree to complete the credits within two years of being hired. More than half of Michigan's new recruits have taken advantage of that waiver, but some have lost their jobs because they did not complete the credits within two years, Washington said.

“Removing prerequisites in our recruiting pool to focus on hands-on training is one of many important department initiatives to improve staffing levels and reduce overtime at facilities across the state,” she said in a statement.

McBroom expressed frustration with the bill and the department's support, arguing that it was an election-year “cover” that would not solve long-term problems related to prison pay and benefits. Democrats hold a 56-54 majority in the House of Representatives.

“It’s just stupid not to fix this problem urgently,” McBroom said.

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