North Carolina prison staffing shortage: 39% of NC's correctional officer positions are vacant

Prisons across North Carolina have an alarming number of job openings with about 39% of the state’s correctional officer positions vacant.

The state has closed 5,338 prison beds and hired 400 private security contractors to patrol prison perimeters because of the vacancies.

“We have the bed space and we don’t have the staff,” said North Carolina Department of Adult Correction Chief Deputy Secretary Brandeshawn Harris. “That’s an unusual position to be in.”

The state has 8,182 total correctional officer positions across the prison system with about 3,260 positions vacant as of Tuesday.

“This is one of the highest vacancies we have seen in history,” Harris said.

About 30% of the state’s prisons (16 of 53) have half or more of their correctional officer positions open.

According to Brad Deen, 25 facilities across the state have some beds that are temporarily closing.

“This is a new part of our world,” Harris said.

The Central Prison at 1300 Western Blvd. in Raleigh has 292 vacancies out of 582 jobs available. Leaders said COVID caused the vacancies and they haven’t bounced back yet.

“Most of our work is social work and mission work and investing into people,” Harris said.

Harris said hiring private security is also new because prisons don’t have enough correctional officers.

“We are working very hard, and we have staff that volunteer to work and come in on days off,” Harris said.

Last year, prison staff racked up 1.6 million hours of overtime to help keep operations going.

The Department of Corrections is offering open walk-in interviews as well as a $7,000 sign-on bonus. The starting salary for a corrections officer with no experience is about $36,000 per year. For three years of experience, Harris said the salary is $56,000 per year.