Kansas Declares Staff Shortage At El Dorado Prison An Emergency

The Kansas secretary of corrections calls staffing shortages at a state prison an emergency.

Worker shortages are a persistent problem the state prison system. Corrections Secretary Roger Werholtz said it’s especially bad at the El Dorado Correctional Facility, where staff already work long shifts. The prison holds about 1,700 inmates and currently has about 85 unfilled jobs.

The emergency declaration gives the Department of Corrections the authority to hire temporary staff and require employees to work even longer hours.

“But I’m hoping that we can get some more bodies in the door fairly quickly and get them some relief,” Werholtz said in an interview.

Read more: https://www.kcur.org/post/kansas-declares-staff-shortage-el-dorado-prison-emergency#stream/0