ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, June 15, 1996 TAG: 9606170079
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: RICHMOND
SOURCE: Associated Press
Turnover among Virginia's prison guards was the worst in seven years in 1995, suggesting a need for pay raises and other job improvements, prison officials say.
The turnover last year topped 18 percent, the highest since at least 1988. Among first-year guards, the rate reached 40 percent, the highest since 1990.
State corrections officials presented the figures Thursday with updates on other prison issues during a meeting of the state Senate's public safety subcommittee at the sprawling Greensville Correctional Center near Jarratt.
The subcommittee's chairman, Sen. Richard Holland, D-Isle of Wight, said the high turnover squandered the state's investment in training guards.
``It's got to be terribly expensive to have that kind of turnover,'' Holland said.
Prisons Director Ron Angelone said turnover is always high in a profession that offers few encouraging words and the constant threat of assault.
``The life is very lonely in there,'' Angelone said. ``It is one of the most stressful jobs in the United States.''
Virginia's prison system is growing rapidly, the result of get-tough laws that have lengthened sentences and scrapped parole. The number of inmates is expected to jump from about 27,000 now to about 52,000 in 2005.
That growth means the number of guards is skyrocketing, too.
The number of Virginia guards jumped from 4,396 in July 1992 to 5,919 last month. That number should climb to 7,362 by July 1998, prison officials said.
Virginia's starting guard salary of $19,188 trails the Federal Bureau of Prisons' salary of $24,571, the District of Columbia's $22,378, Maryland's $22,004, and North Carolina's $19,645, a survey showed.
Trailing Virginia were West Virginia, at $18,116, and Kentucky, at $16,260.
Virginia guards' starting salaries also trailed those of local deputies in jails in Chesterfield County, Roanoke, Henrico County and Richmond, the survey showed.
Sen. Charles Waddell, D-Loudoun County, said he favored raising guards' salaries. ``We've got to find a way to create more stability in these positions,'' he said.
Waddell said he also wanted to hold down costs by looking for ways to keep people out of prison in the first place.
Prison officials said they have stepped up recruiting. Vacancies dropped from 491 last July to about 262 this month, they said.
Deputy prisons director Ed Morris said it's hard to explain why guard turnover jumped last year. But he said the job is getting tougher.
``Every generation [of inmates] is more violent than the last,'' Morris said.
Prisons spokesman David Botkins said turnover may be high, ``but morale is unbelievably high. The correctional officers know they have the administration's support. ... Correctional officers run the institutions. Inmates don't run the institutions.''
Prison officials said they are looking at numerous ways to improve the job of prison guards, including paying more in areas with higher costs of living.
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