March 26, 2005 Houston Chronicle "State prison guards tough to keep"

PAID OVERTIME DECLINES
Fiscal year Overtime hours Overtime costs
2002            2.6 million            $36.1 million
2003            1.5 million            $20.8 million
2004            135,000 hours      $2 million

A move two years ago to eliminate most overtime pay for Texas prison guards may be contributing to a rising turnover rate that some experts say could compromise safety as guards are forced to work more hours to cover thousands of vacancies.

The Texas Department of Criminal Justice tightened controls on overtime in March 2003 so that only compensatory, or "comp," time would be given for the first 240 hours of overtime earned within a year. Once that threshold is met, overtime is paid.

The savings were immense. Correctional officers clocked 2.6 million hours of overtime worth $36.1 million in fiscal 2002, but that number dropped last year to 135,000 hours of overtime worth $2 million.

The virtual elimination of overtime pay and the stress that comes with a job that pays a top salary of $2,589 a month — nearly five times less than Brad Livingston, TDCJ's executive director — make it more difficult to keep prisons fully staffed, correctional officers and experts say.

"It worries me, and I suspect it worries people in charge of these prisons. It creates additional stress on those who are there," said Dan Beto, director of the Correctional Management Institute of Texas at Sam Houston State University, which trains TDCJ managers.

Although the number of correctional officer vacancies has fallen from an all-time high of 3,406 in fiscal 2001 to 2,527 in January, turnover for TDCJ guards is inching upward.

Last year, 5,511 correctional officers, or 21 percent of the correctional officer work force, quit. That's about 5 percent more than the turnover for all state employees, according to Texas State Auditor's Office records.

Five Texas prisons, the Ferguson, Coffield, Clements, Beto and Allred units, had more than 100 correctional officer vacancies as of Jan. 31. The five are among the largest prisons in the state's more than 150,000-inmate system.

Carol Blair Johnston, TDCJ's director of human resources, insists that the vacancy situation coupled with the overtime work does not compromise the safety of prison workers or the inmates they oversee.

"Our employees were able to cover that shortage and perform their duties in a very professional manner to support the safety of the facility," she said.

TDCJ used a similar overtime policy years ago but began offering overtime pay within the past five years when correctional officer vacancies were higher.

Because of the current guard shortage, correctional officers must contact their supervisors before each shift so managers can determine whether they have enough people to staff the prisons.

"Correctional officers have to call in four hours before their shift to know whether or not they have to come in early," said Samuel Davis, president of the Correction Association of Texas, a 500-member professional organization. "Many of the men, or women, especially the women who are working, are single parents. It's very hard for them because of day care arrangements."

The required overtime, which is legal, means those working extra shifts won't see any financial benefit until they've worked more than 20 additional hours a month.

Additionally, those who refuse to come in early or stay late can be officially "written up" for failing to obey an order. Three "write-ups" can result in termination. In 2003, 111 failure-to-obey violations were recorded. The department could not say how many of those involved refusing to work overtime. However, such refusals were a factor in the dismissal of four correctional officers last year.

Some guards complain that comp time is difficult to schedule when there are so many vacancies. Officers work either a five-day, eight-hour schedule with two days off or a four-day, 12-hour schedule with four days off.

"With the shortage of staff, they can't take off," said Davis, a correctional officer for more than 20 years. "That's why many of the correctional officers are walking away from the job."

"They were explaining to me that one, they're shorthanded and two, it's difficult to take overtime even if you've earned it," Beto said.

"Our hardworking male and female correctional officers statewide are professionals who understand the demands of their job and realize the important role they play in providing public safety," said Mike Viesca, TDCJ spokesman. "The conditions of the job are explained up front — during the recruiting process — so that there are no surprises."

Johnston, the human resources chief, said exit surveys from departing correctional officers cite pay and benefits as the top reasons for leaving.

Without the allure of a better paycheck through overtime, many officers are not volunteering for extra work, and so prison supervisors must force staff to work more shifts.

"Of course, every effort is made to fill overtime slots with volunteers, but sometimes that's not always possible," said Viesca, who adds that he has not heard any grumbling regarding the overtime-pay situation.

In Texas, an employer can force an hourly paid worker to work overtime, said Larry Clore, a partner in Fulbright & Jaworski's Labor and Employment Law section.

"Unless they have a contract that says that they can limit their hours, an employer is free to make them work as many hours as they wish," Clore said.

In Texas, employment is an "at-will" relationship, meaning hourly workers and their employers can change the relationship "at will," or at any time. The worker can leave voluntarily, and the employer can choose to dismiss the employee.

"Morale's not real good right now because of the shortage," said Beto, the Correctional Management Institute of Texas director.

"We do not require a set ratio because no two correctional facilities are the same," explained Joe Weedon, a spokesman for the American Correctional Association. "We require an institution or a program to have a staffing plan in place to meet the needs of that facility."

Turnover is a consistent problem in prisons, said Richard E. Griffin, an attorney with Jackson Walker in Houston and former chairman of the Arkansas prison system in the 1970s and 1980s.

"You get tired of having urine thrown on you, and cussed, and everything that goes on in a prison unit, and not being able to do something about it," he said. "So, it's just not a good work atmosphere."

It's a tense one, at the very least. Davis, the correctional officer who works at the Ramsey I unit in Rosharon, said officers who work eight-hour shifts a day get no time off for a meal and only enough time for a restroom break.

Officers who work four 12-hour, 45-minute shifts get at least one 30-minute break. Additional breaks are given when possible, but the staffing shortage makes breaks tougher to grant.

Those who make the prison system a career, Griffin said, do so for "the almighty dollar" and because they feel they work with good people and have hope for advancement.

When any of those elements are removed, turnover increases, Griffin said. And the cost of attrition can be calculated not only in taxpayer dollars but in safety, he added.

"It's a disaster because you're constantly training a new work force," he said. "It's a tremendous expense, and it's inefficient because you don't have experience at the positions that you need."

Each correctional officer spends 5 1/2 weeks in training. Last year, $3.8 million was spent training correctional officers.

The lack of overtime pay and possible repercussions on an officer's stress level as well as safety have caught the attention of at least one lawmaker.

"I've been contacted by various employees by those agencies complaining of extensive overtime work and not getting compensated," Deshotel said. "I think it needs to be brought to light."