A consulting group spent the last year visiting state prisons and concluded there are big problems because we’re down more than 13-hundred guards. At a non-profit called the Humanization Project, Shawn Weneta noted a number of facilities, including Greeensville and Lawrenceville, have vacancy rates of 50% or greater.
“These are our number one and number two prisons in Virginia, collectively housing about 5,000 people," he says.
And those people are, routinely, unable to take part in educational and therapeutic programs.
“If you don’t have security in the building where these classes and things take place, you can’t have the classes,” Weneta explains.
Lockdowns are common – two prisoners confined to their cells, the size of a parking space, for 22 hours a day, and with nothing to look forward to, Weneta says many turn to drugs which are still widely available.
He notes job seekers don’t have to work in prisons.
“There are lots of other jobs that are available to people in Virginia other than in corrections that often times pay more and don’t have the stress and the conditions you have to deal with as a corrections officer.”
The consultants suggest the state find other people to transport prisoners, handle inmate property, do laundry and administration while reducing the time needed to train new officers.
