A staffing analysis report on to the Alaska Department of Corrections suggests adding employees, but the state agency isn’t budgeted for the increase.
The report released Thursday recommends 102 new personnel be hired statewide, a 5.4 percent increase to current staffing levels.
This follows the 2015 administrative review of the agency which found “troubling results”. Former FBI special agent Joe Hanlon worked on the review and when the results were released in November he called Alaska’s training “haphazard”.
Hanlon: “Most large law enforcement agencies, particularly those that have their own training academy, put their officers or agents through a basic course prior to going on the job. We found that this isn’t the case currently. In fact, some of the new hires are brought on board at individual facilities and generally will not get to the basic training for four to six months. We found one officer who did not attend the academy until he had 10 months on the job.”
The staffing analysis states: “Due to a lack of relief staff, many facilities do not provide required levels of in-service training.”
The report provides recommendations of short-term and long-term solutions. For Kenai’s Wildwood Facility, a short-term fix would be hiring nine employees, a 7.6 percent increase from their 118 person staffing level now. The long-term recommendation for Kenai’s prison is hiring 14 people.
For that full set of staffing analysis recommendations, click here.