Shutdown raises staffing, safety concerns at FCI Tallahassee

The government shutdown put a spotlight on issues from staffing and public safety to employee morale at the Federal Correctional Institution in Tallahassee.

Ray Coleman, president of American Federation of Government Employees Local 1570, said the federal prison on Capital Circle Northeast was short-staffed going into the shutdown, a problem a prolonged impasse only would have worsened.

“If you start to furlough employees and reduce the number of staff, essentially that’s less staff you have to respond to emergencies, disturbances, any of those inherent dangers that come with working at a prison,” Coleman said. “And that in and of itself is a safety concern being as this prison is essentially in the backyard of this community.”

Coleman said the prison has about 275 full-time employees, including about 200 union members, but is some 70 positions short. He said a hiring freeze has been in place since last January, which has prevented the prison from filling positions left open by retirements and transfers. The Tallahassee Democrat could not immediately confirm the staff numbers with prison officials.

Read more: http://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/2018/01/22/shutdown-raises-staffing-safety-concerns-fci/1055550001/