The staffing crisis at the Allegheny County Jail has paralyzed staff from being able to provide a safe and humane environment to the residents of our jail. The health care staff has had 94 vacancies, and many correctional officers have to work so much forced overtime that they have to decide whether to have a relationship with their families or to continue to work at ACJ.

The Jail Oversight Board has managed to complete only three exit interviews since the board voted 6-1-1 in December 2020 to conduct exit interviews.

The JOB must institute a staff retention committee. The board needs to become aware of the many challenges the staff faces and why so many workers have left. The front-line staff needs to be part of this committee, along with administration, to give the JOB a realistic picture of what is really going on.

Another significant value of jail staff’s participation on this committee is that front-line staff and administration who have been in conflict can work together on a problem vital to both of their self-interests.

The tasks of the committee will be for 1) the board to listen to front-line staff and administration as to the causes of staff turnover and changes that need to be made; 2) institute exit interviews and job satisfaction surveys; 3) research national best practices to confront the staffing crisis; and 4) obtain human resources expertise from government and the community.

John Kenstowicz

Morningside

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