The commissioner of West Virginia's jails system told lawmakers he sees in maintenance of facilities and hiring for open positions, although there are still concerns about overcrowding in some areas.
Corrections Commissioner William Marshall spoke before the Oversight Committee on Regional Jail and Correctional Facility Authority during legislative interim meetings.
He said the jails system has been able to make progress on deferred maintenance.
"The deferred maintenance projects are continuing to progress. We've made significant gains in those areas. We've been able to repair things and replace things that have been on the list for some time, and so we're able to do that and we're excited about that," Marshall said.
The corrections system has been dealing with unfilled positions for a long time, so much so that Gov. Jim Justice declared an emergency over the matter a couple of years ago. Marshall today reported continued progress in that area.
"Our vacancies as of right now, for our corrections officers is under 7% which is pretty tremendous. On January 1, we had 576 correctional officer vacancies. As of today, we have 166 and so that's a significant upgrade," Marshall told lawmakers.
"It speaks to the amount of pay raises that you all were generous enough to work with us on as well as the culture that we've built over these last nearly two years. Not only are we bringing those people into our facilities; we're retaining them now as well."
Responding to questions from Delegate David Kelly, R-Tyler, Marshall used the Huttonsville Correctional Facility as an example of progress.
"Our vacancies as a whole, as you remember, were off the charts. We're sitting here with Huttonsville, who we couldn't give a job away two years ago, at 2% vacancy right now. And that's tremendous," Marshall said.
Marshall, though, still described some concern with vacancies in the Eastern Panhandle region, which is in a competitive job market with surrounding states.
"The Eastern Panhandle is still a source of emphasis and we're shifting some of our job fairs, our one stops, to those areas to see if we can improve on them," he said. "They have greatly improved, but we still have some work to do as far as bringing them to the table and getting staffing up to date as far as the Eastern Panhandle goes," he said.
Senator Jason Barrett, R-Berkeley, wanted to know more about the situation in that region.
"You've mentioned some elevated vacancies in the Eastern Regional Jail. What are the number of vacancies?" Barrett asked.
Marshall clarified that vacancies there haven't gone up -- it's just that they're high compared to other facilities.
"They're just higher than what everybody else is right now. So they've actually greatly improved. And so that includes Potomac Highlands and that area over there, Martinsburg Correctional, Eastern Regional Jail, Vicki Douglass Juvenile Center -- they're all running a little bit higher than everybody else, but there have been significant gains there," Marshall said.
Barrett followed up by asking, "What do you attribute more vacancies there than anywhere else?"
"I just think the amount of competition in that area," Marshall responded. "You can jump across state lines and get a different job, maybe not even for more money but for a different job, better opportunities. It's a thriving area there. There's a lot of people that have come to work for us from over there. It's just something I think we need to focus our recruitment and our retention efforts in that direction."
Marshall described continued concerns about jail overpopulation, particularly in specific facilities.
"Population as a whole is up right now in the jails. We're about 500 over throughout the state. But we do have about 300 beds available in our prisons, so we're trying to see if we can get some of these individuals adjudicated so we can move some of them out."
He cited North Central Regional Jail as a particular example of overpopulation.
"We have shifted a lot of those individuals to a lot of different areas that have been adjudicated, but it's still an area of concern. Our staff are doing a fantastic job up there, managing what they have," Marshall said. "As I mentioned before, we don't have the ability to put 'no vacancy' signs on our facilities so we have to take who we get."