STATE REP. GREG Markkanen, a Republican from Hancock, speaks on the Michigan House floor in Lansing. (Michigan House of Representatives photo)

LANSING — A worsening shortage is contributing to the high turnover rate of corrections officers in Michigan’s prisons.

Too much mandatory overtime, on-the-job dangers and complaints over benefits also are factors in the problems the Department of Corrections has in keeping its officers.

According to the department, 723 of 1,167 employees who left their jobs in the 2023 fiscal year were corrections officers.

Of those, 455 were voluntary departures, with 108 occurring within the first year on the job.

In 2021, 839 of the 1,611 employees who left were corrections officers. The proportion of officer departures rose from 52% to 61% within two years.

Recruiting and retaining officers is difficult in correctional facilities, experts say.

Timothy Eklin, a professor of criminal justice at Ferris State University, is a former corrections officer who worked at several prisons of varying security levels.

He said one of the many difficulties in recruiting and retaining officers is generational differences.

“Millennials and Gen Z value work-life balance a bit more than baby boomers and Xers,” Eklin said.

“I can’t speak for all people, but generally, as a group, millennials and Gen Zs are not crazy about working long hours. They’re not crazy about working every holiday and every weekend. They want more life balance, and they demand that,” he said.

Eklin said younger workers are less likely to stay at one job than members of previous generations. Many younger people prefer to try different jobs and to be employed at different places.

“There’s also less working-age people,” said Elkin. “We see that in higher ed there are less college students because there are less high school graduates than ever.”

“So it’s kind of this perfect storm of labor shortage in these particular jobs,” he said.

Corrections officers must have a minimum of 15 college credits, which is an obstacle to some potential applicants. The department supports a bill sponsored by Rep. Jenn Hill, D-Marquette, to remove that requirement.

Additionally, officers were stripped of their defined benefits pension package in 1997 that was replaced with a less attractive 401(k)-type plan, according to legislation pending in the Senate that would restore the former pension system.

The pension change has made retention more difficult, Eklin said.

Elkin said government entities are “slow to respond” to growth opportunities and job perks such as bonuses and vacations.

“They deserve better benefits in the prison system,” said Republican Rep. Greg Markkanen of Hancock. “They have a very tough job and they are very short of personnel and we want to get them retirement benefits, health care and a pension.”

Byron Osborn, the president of the Michigan Corrections Organization, said too many other employers offer the same or better pay and benefits for far less dangerous jobs.

The union represents about 6,500 corrections officers and forensic security assistants.

Osborn said that nationally prisons have been difficult to staff. Among Michigan’s 26 state prisons, half have a vacancy rate ranging from 15-35%, according to the union

Osborn said the Legislature appropriates enough money for the department to hire between 700-800 officers a year.

However, the rate at which employees leave corrections equals or surpasses that number per year.

“The turnover rate has been increasing because of the amount of mandatory overtime. The conditions are just exacerbating the problem, which is leading to more and more people finding another line of work and resigning from the Department of Corrections,” said Osborn.

Osborn said three of the six prisons in the Upper Peninsula are “significantly understaffed,” one of which is Baraga Correctional Facility with a 34% vacancy rate.

According to the union, there were more than 544 officer overtime shifts between July 1 and July 18 at Baraga. That included 135 violations of the 32-hour rule, a regulation designed to keep officers from being overworked and subjected to excessive overtime.

Markkanen, whose district borders Baraga County, has participated in the union’s informational picketing.

Due to its small population, the Corrections Department has a harder time recruiting for prisons in the U.P., he said.

“Our population is just right around 300,000 people, whereas downstate there is a larger pool to recruit from,” he said.

Other U.P. prisons have a high vacancy rate as well. For example, Marquette Branch Prison has a vacancy rate of 33%, and Chippewa Correctional Facility’s rate is 27%.

“People want employment that they can dig into, invest their future in and have benefits so they can take care of their family,” said Markkanen.

The dangers of the job impede recruitment and retention, experts say.

According to the union, there were three instances of officers being assaulted at Marquette Branch prison on July 16. That same day, prisoners started a fire in a housing unit.

According to the department, the officers’ academy trained 187 recruits in August.

Department officials said they participate in job fairs across the state for recruitment.

Officials said the department also is working on removing other barriers that cause vacancies, such as “housing availability, child care affordability and economic opportunity.”

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Capital News Service is a wire service based out of the Michigan State University School of Journalism.