Key GOP lawmaker calls on Michigan prison chief to resign over staffing issues • Michigan Advance
The ranking member of the House Budget Committee on Thursday called on Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC) Director Heidi Washington to resign, citing safety concerns due to a shortage of correctional officers.
“The lack of effective leadership is directly undermining the mental health and well-being of those who put their lives on the line every day to protect our communities. Our officers and our state deserve better. It is time for Director Washington to resign,” state Rep. Sarah Lightner (R-Springport) said in a statement.
The Michigan Corrections Organization (MCO), Michigan’s correctional officers’ union, has raised numerous concerns about staffing in recent years, pointing to dangerous working conditions, including unsafe inmate-to-officer ratios and “demoralizing” mandatory overtime.
According to Analysis by the bipartisan House Fiscal AgencyThe total number of correctional officers has declined since 2019, when the state employed a total of 6,070 correctional officers. At the end of June, MDOC employed 4,632 active correctional officers, correctional transport officers and correctional physicians at its 26 facilities, which house 32,984 prisoners.
“Despite the obvious crisis, Director Washington has failed to implement a plan to address critical staffing shortages, resulting in very low morale, depression, anxiety and fear among our dedicated correctional officers,” Lightner said in a statement.
Washington has served as MDOC director since July 2015, when she was appointed under former Republican Gov. Rick Snyder. Washington was the only one retained from Snyder’s cabinet and was reappointed to the position in 2019 by Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
Both the House of Representatives and the Senate are controlled by the Democrats.
On the 3rd of July sent a letter to Whitmer Request assistance from the National Guard while working directly with the organization to find a permanent solution to the personnel problems.
“Governor Whitmer, your state correctional officials in the Michigan Department of Corrections demand that you take immediate action to eliminate the dangerous working conditions that have persisted and even worsened throughout your tenure as Governor,” MCO President Byron Osborn wrote in the letter.
“Under your watch, the state’s correctional officers continue to suffer like no other state employee in Michigan’s history. They are STILL forced to work an exhausting, demoralizing amount of mandatory 16 hours of overtime per week,” Osborn wrote. “They are not allowed to live normal, healthy lives with their families. None of your other state employees are subjected to these conditions.”
Osborn also said the shortage of correctional officers has led to an unsafe inmate-to-police ratio, with officers forced to work alone in remote areas, jeopardizing their own safety and that of prisoners.
“The state prisons are not pleasant facilities where well-treated officers churn out rehabilitated prisoners. The state prisons are STILL dangerous facilities, only about two-thirds full with exhausted officers dealing with a gang-riddled prisoner population that has taken advantage of lax MDOC policies on prisoner discipline, classification and segregation,” Osborn wrote. “The only people happy with current conditions in the prisons are the prisoners. They are pampered at the expense of officer safety.”
The governor’s office did not respond to a request for comment on whether Whitmer had responded to the letter.
Washington responded to concerns about the staffing situation in a statement, acknowledging that there had been staffing problems for several years and thanking its employees for the high level of voluntary and mandatory overtime.
During that period, the department has focused on recruitment and retention efforts, including posting job openings, holding hiring events and hosting four correctional officer academies per year. The state has also negotiated salary increases totaling 18% since 2020, Washington said, noting that overall, those efforts have helped some facilities achieve stable staffing levels.
“As of MDOC’s last report to the Legislature in April, facility vacancy rates ranged from 4.3% to 36.3% for officers. Half of MDOC’s prisons currently have vacancy rates below 15%, and 8 facilities have vacancy rates of 5% or less,” Washington said.
The ministry and other stakeholders must continue to focus on efforts to stabilize the workforce in the long term, Washington said, including promoting part-time benefits.
“This includes playing an active role in ensuring the safety of their communities, performing a role that can change lives, and the opportunity to reach the maximum annual salary of $68,500 after just three and a half years of service as an officer,” Washington said, noting that the change would take effect on Oct. 1.
According to Lightner’s office, the Michigan Auditor General is currently conducting an investigation into staffing shortages and other alleged violations of federal and state labor regulations within the Michigan Department of Corrections, with Lightner leading a Letter requesting review in 2023.
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