The Florida Department of Corrections (FDC) announced the temporary closure of three North Florida prisons on Friday. The prisons are Cross City Correctional Institution (CCCI), Baker Correctional Institution (BCI), and New River Correctional Institution (NRCI).
CCCI has been closed since August 7th when it was evacuated due to flooding, while BCI and NRCI have experienced significant staffing shortages and will be closed in the coming weeks.
Employees and inmates of the three institutions will be relocated to neighboring institutions to “ensure safe and secure correctional institutions,” said the FDC in a press release. Additionally, “Staff will not lose their job or rank, as these measures are temporary,” and “every effort to maintain housing within an inmate’s current custody status, will be made.”
The announcement also notes that the temporary closures will not impact the current population of inmates and will not result in the early release of inmates.
To address the staffing shortage prisons are facing, the FDC has implemented several measures to incentivize new and former employees to fill the needed positions.
Included in these measures is the move from 12-hour shifts to 8.5-hour shifts that the FDC said is “recommended by national experts, and strongly supported through data analysis of safety trends.” The FDC also consolidated work camps and annexes into main institutions that have the staff to maintain them.
Regarding new and former employees, the FDC is also looking to give $1,000 hiring bonuses at institutions with a staff vacancy rate at 10% or higher, as well as a $1,000 hiring bonus to “returning certified staff.” In addition to the signing bonuses, the FDC is increasing the base pay rate for non-certified correctional officer trainees to $33,500, and are hiring part-time certified correctional officers.
Before Friday’s official announcement, the Miami Herald interviewed union representative and president of the Corrections Chapter of the Police Benevolent Association, Jim Baiardi, who told the publication about his discussion with FDC Secretary, Mark Inch, regarding the prison closures.
“He [Inch] is going to be closing some prisons that are close to the other, temporarily, so he can redirect the staff and inmates to places where they can safely run the institutions for now,” Baiardi said in the Herald’s report.
Additionally, Baiardi stated, “It is going to help, but it is going to have a minor impact… This is not the solution to the crisis. This is a temporary band-aid. The number of officers moving is not going to solve the vacancy problem.”
Baiardi also told the Herald that there are currently 5,000 vacancies for correctional officers in the state of Florida, and that the closure of CCCI, BCI, and NRCI could be responsible for relocating up to 1,200 correctional officers “out of desperation.”
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Casey Owens is a contributing writer for The Florida Capital Star. Follow him on Twitter at @cowensreports. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Prison corridor” by Tim (Timothy) Pearce. CC BY 2.0.
