More than a quarter of the approximately 8,000 jobs in the Colorado Department of Corrections are vacant as the prisons struggle to recruit and retain corrections officers, teachers, social workers…
Paul Brackmann had worked as a teacher for 25 years, including stints as a principal and assistant principal, and was looking for a slightly different opportunity when he took a job as a teacher at the Buena Vista Correctional Complex.
“It’s all wrong,” said Brackmann, speaking as a member of the Colorado WINS union. “I’m a teacher. Teachers shouldn’t be doing that.” Department of Corrections Director Dean Williams acknowledged the problem and said he thinks about the staffing crisis every day. Colorado is not the only state facing such a challenge, he said.
But there doesn’t seem to be an end in sight, some workers said. It’s a cyclical problem, Brackmann said. Low staffing creates burnout. Burnout creates resignations and retirements, which means less staff and more burnout. “It’s really hard to care about taking care of, or trying to rehabilitate, inmates when you can’t take care of yourself,” she said.
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