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Cheaper, not just safer, to fully staff local lockups

I've been harping for a while on the fact that failing to adequately staff prisons and jails makes it less safe for both those incarcerated and those keeping them locked up.Another aspect of the short-staffing crisis that gets less attention is that it's cheaper, as well as safer, to run an adequately staffed jail that doesn't rely on overtime for core staffing. In Nueces County, reports the Corpus Christi Caller Times ("Sheriff's cuts lead to likely budget surplus," April 22):Midway through fiscal year 2007-08, County Auditor Peggy Hayes projects that the sheriff's department will come in 4.26 percent under its $5.06 million budget and that the jail will come in 1.4 percent under its $11.7 million budget. Corrections officers previously worked four 12-hour shifts a week, which meant eight hours of overtime per officer was designed into the schedule...continue to full post

Full post as published by Grits for Breakfast on April 22, 2008 (boomark / email).