Allegheny County Jail staffing budget soars in ‘22 while hiring and retention lag

The Allegheny County Jail’s incarcerated population is about two-thirds what it was before the pandemic, and as the jail has struggled to hire and retain staff, it left millions of dollars unspent from last year’s budget. Even so, the jail’s 2022 budget ballooned by 14% from last year’s, a hike of roughly $12 million. The county’s budget overall increased by only 5%.

The budget calls for a significant increase in staffing, while in reality, the jail is struggling to retain staff even up to previous levels and the correctional officers’ union leader regularly tweets about dangerous situations brought on by short staffing.

According to a summary provided by the county administration, the jail is budgeted for 510 correctional officers in 2022, a considerable increase over the 448 budgeted in 2021. Meanwhile, the jail employed 396 correction officers as of Jan. 7, 2022 — 12% below the 2021 budgeted staffing level and 22% below the 2022 budgeted level. (The correctional officers’ union president said in early March that the number was 370). According to public payroll data, 64 correctional officers left their jobs during 2021.

Starting pay for correctional officers is $22 per hour, and applicants don’t need a college degree. 

County Council President Pat Catena said in an interview that he has been unable to get answers from the county administration about why the jail is struggling to hire and retain staff as well as about other problems at the jail.

“I need the basic information in order to propose a solution,” Catena said. “When you can’t get basic information off of this administration and this warden, that’s a real problem.”

During the Jail Oversight Board meeting March 2, Warden Orlando Harper refused to answer Catena’s question about the staffing issue, and Catena said he has not received any answers in the two weeks since. 

Jail spokesperson Jesse Geleynse said in an email to PublicSource that the jail is trying to speed hiring by making more of the application process virtual instead of in-person, advertising on social media and traditional media and holding a virtual career fair. He said there have been recruit classes for correctional officers in recent months but did not specify the number of expected new officers.