A Simple Solution to the MDOC’S Staff Shortage

By Jerry Metcalf

Today I read an article in the Detroit Free Press written by Annabel Aguir of the Lansing State Journal, titled: Prisons in Crisis Amid Staffing Shortages.

Ms. Aguir reports that the Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC) currently has 770 prison guard openings, a 40% nursing vacancy, and that food service workers are also “badly needed.” She cites these staffing shortages as a crisis, and I agree. Where we disagree is the reasoning for why these jobs are available, and the possible fixes for this crisis.

Ms. Aguir interviewed people from the MDOC administration and two guards who work inside Michigan prisons. But she failed to interview anyone from our side (I am incarcerated in Michigan), so I decided to insert a little balance.

Let’s start with the guards. The MDOC has a budget of roughly 2 billion, and that number hasn’t really changed in a decade or so. It’s been a tad higher and a tad lower, but mostly it hovers around 2 billion. The vast majority of that money goes to paying employee salaries.

The MDOC claims it can’t retain or hire new guards due to things like covid, budgetary constraints, and forced mandatory overtime. What it did not explain was how many of its newest hires (mostly white millennials) are duped into working for the department with catchphrases about “making a difference” and “helping currently incarcerated people to rehabilitate themselves.” These young people (and I’ve met and disscussed this with many of them) then report to work and are disillusioned almost immediately.

They quickly discover there is little to no actual rehabilitation taking place in Michigan prisons. That Michigan prisons are all about warehousing people (mostly of color) until their release date, then dumping those people back into society without making any real changes to their thinking or mentality. This disillusionment is a big part of the exodus from the prison guard ranks. Ask almost any guard working today (off the record) and they’ll tell you their job makes little difference. Track down some of those millinials who’ve quit, and they’ll tell you the same thing. They’d wished to be a part of the solution, but keeping their job had turned them into part of the problem, so they moved on.

The issue with the nursing vacancies is very similar. I think we can all agree that the majority of men and women who pursue nursing careers are by nature a more empathetic lot. Yet, when they arrive at work in a prison and discover the subpar healthcare being doled out, it sours their stomachs. Sure, some of them stay, many for years at lower-than-average wages, trying to “fix” the system, but the system is so systemically broken that it cannot be fixed, at least not from the bottom up. And when a nurse finally realizes this, she cuts her losses and move on.

The issue with the food service workers is simple. The food isn’t fit for human consumption. Not anymore. It used to be, but once they allowed the private companies in, they basically destroyed our menu. And the state, having learned what we incarcerated individuals are willing to accept, continued with that subpar food after firing the private companies. How bad is the food? Well, the guards used to eat the same food we do, but not anymore. Seldom is a guard seen eating prison food. So that is the real issue at hand. How would you like to come to work and be in charge of feeding thousands of incarcerated people (many in for violent crimes) subpar food not fit for human consumption? No, not I, that’s for sure.

So, from an incarcerated person’s point of view, what’s the solution to all this?

Let’s try looking at this with fresh eyes. The Michigan Corrections Organization (MCO) is calling on state legislature to increase the budget for new guards and recruiting staff, citing that the MDOC spent 82 million in overtime last year alone on prison guards. Their solution is the same as anyone who’s not spending from their own pocket: Throw more tax dollars at the problem. Never mind that Michigan schools are short teachers and funds, or that Michigan roads are the worst in the nation. Never mind that Michigan prisons have the oldest prison population in the nation, or that we serve the longest sentences on avarage. Never mind that we’ve had more people exonerated in the last few years than any other state. Never mind that it’s a proven fact that longer sentences do not deter crime, but do destory our communites of color and wreak havoc on their children.

No, what’s needed is not more money. At least not for prison guards. What’s needed is some common sense and simple math skills. Let’s close some of these decrepit, structurally-unsound and overcrowded prisons. Let’s release some of these incarcerated people (like me) who aren’t sentenced to life in prison, but have already spent decades behind bars. Let’s stop keeping people locked up past any reasonable duration of time simply because politics demands it. Let’s follow the science.

Easier said then done, the MCO would say. Not true. Dozens of organizations across Michigan have been working on this problem, and lawmakers are starting to agree. The Michigan Justice Advocacy group (mijustice.org) and Senator Jeff Irwin introduced Senate Bill 649 (the goodtime credits bill) which would accomplish everything that needs accomplishing. It would save the state hundreds of millions of dollars, it would solve the MDOC’s staff shortage crisis, and it would propel Michigan into the modern era where prisons are concerned. No longer would we be the only state in the nation not offering any form of good time to its prison populace. No longer would we be spending billions of tax dollars that didn’t need to be spent.

My name is Jerry Metcalf, and I wish to make the world a better place. If you do too, please join me on social media.

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