The costs associated with staffing is a vicious cycle. Learn how to sustainably cut costs on the staffing budget line item without adding to another.

1. HOW TO LOWER COSTS
WITHOUT PUTTING STAFF
AT HIGHER RISK
THE COSTS ASSOCIATED WITH STAFFING IS A
VICIOUS CYCLE. LEARN HOW TO SUSTAINABLY
CUT COSTS ON THE STAFFING BUDGET LINE
ITEM WITHOUT ADDING TO ANOTHER.

2. Reduce Injury,
Reduce Stress
The costs associated with correctional staffing is a vicious cycle that
only results in more cost if not accounting for the entire problem.
Operators dealing with budget cuts have reduced staff, put a freeze
on hiring, reduced salaries and benefits and eliminated pay
increases. While looking good in the books, these solutions only
solve half the equation and actually add more cost when taking into
account injury and stress corrections employees encounter when
dealing with the ever-growing inmate population.
For operators who desperately need to reduce staffing costs, this
eBook presents sustainable solutions that cut costs without shuffling
costs to another budget line item. If not implementing the ideas in
this eBook, operators will continue down the path of cutting staffing
costs, only to incur more with injury and turnover.
In two chapters, this eBook will present several ways to reduce the
risk of injury and lessen the stress correctional staff experience on
the job- saving operators money.
Please use the ideas presented in this eBook.
How to Lower Costs Without Putting Staff at www.performainc.com 1
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3. Reduce
Injury
“The threat of violence against officers, actual
violence committed by inmates, inmate demands and
manipulation and problems with co-workers are
conditions that officers have reported in recent years
can cause stress.”
-Addressing Correctional Officer
Stress, NIJ
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4. How to Reduce the
Risk Injury
According the Bureau of Labor Statistics, correctional officers have
the highest rate of nonfatal on-the-job injuries than any other
career. What is the impact to correctional facilities? An injury
removes an employee from an already lean staff- resulting in
required overtime for remaining employees. Operators are left
paying double- the overtime rate of pay and workers’
compensation.
This section will provide several ways to reduce the risk of injury:
• Eliminate contraband
• Prevent overcrowding
• Strategically assign inmates to housing
• Design to prevent conflict
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5. Eliminate
Contraband
From drugs to cell phones, contraband causes real conflict behind
bars. According to the Arkansas Department of Corrections, in the
summer of 2009, two convicted murderers plotted their escapes
with contraband cell phones.
Restricting interaction between visitors and weekend visitors from
standard prison population is proven to reduce the amount of
contraband throughout the prison.
White County Law Enforcement Center, in Arkansas, serves as a
judicial, enforcement and detention justice facility. Operators
needed a building that provided an operational flow encompassing
safety and security, along with accessibility to the public.
During the design process:
• Planners established two major interior traffic flows: one
for the public and one for justice. The two traffic flows
meet only at the necessary points of interaction.
• Directly correlated with this design, levels of contraband
among inmates has decreased significantly. The design
cuts interaction between weekend inmates and visitors,
who regularly supply contraband to the rest of the jail
population.
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Higher Risk

6. Eliminate
Contraband
Video conferencing is another way to eliminate physical interface
between inmates and visitors. Technologies such as Jpay, ATM
looking kiosks, allow inmates and visitors to interact without the
possibility of security breeches. In addition to this, inmates who
have regular interaction with friends and family are more likely to
behave better.
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Higher Risk

7. Prevent
Overcrowding
Overcrowded conditions stands as the cause of nearly every prison
riot. The riot in Chino, Calif., fueled by overcrowding issues, has
many corrections professionals predicting more U.S. prisons are
ticking time bombs. Overcrowding prevents the basic needs of
inmates to be fulfilled and requires inmates to be locked up with
nothing to do- increasing their resentment toward the facility and
staff.
Cutting programs and trimming staff that only leaves the needed
few to deal with a swelled inmate population is a one-sided
solution. While cost is saved on the staffing line item, other line
items such as facility repair and workers’ compensation, are
slammed with more cost.
Prevent overcrowding by:
• Outsourcing to a private operator
• Contracting housing from county jails and other state
penitentiaries
How to Lower Costs Without Putting Staff at www.performainc.com 6
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8. Strategically Assign
Inmates to Housing
At Rappahannock Security Center Regional Jail, Morton J.
Leibowitz, superintendent, decreased the number of hostile
incidents by instituting an inmate housing strategy that grouped
similar inmates together. The National Institute of Corrections
(NIC) report, Inmate Behavior Management: The Key to a Safe
Management:
and Secure Jail , defines a clear strategy for housing inmates of
similar category.
After inmates' behaviors and histories are assessed and classified,
jail staff should assign housing based on the following factors:
• The level of security risk the inmate presents
• The inmate's ability to function with other inmates
• The level of supervision the inmate requires
• The types of services the inmate requires
• The types of programs that should be made available to
the inmate
• Legal requirements for separating certain categories of
inmates
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Higher Risk

9. Design to Prevent
Conflict
When building a new facility design to prevent conflict, choose an
architect that can virtually walk you through the design to make
sure there are no unsupervised areas.
Implement a design which incorporates direct supervision. Data
gathered by the NIC to analyze the success of podular, direct-
supervision jails indicates sharp reductions in vandalism, escape,
disturbances, suicides, murders, and sexual and aggravated
assaults. Less violence directly results in safer work environments
as required force is reduced. The direct supervision also allows
correction officers to readily avert situations before they escalate.
As an added bonus to operators- the number of security officers
required to monitor each pod is reduced to three or four.
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10. Reduce
Stress
“These factors, combined with understaffing,
extensive overtime, rotating shift work, low pay, poor
public image and other sources of stress, can impair
officers’ health, cause them to burn out or retire
prematurely and impair their family life.”
-Addressing Correctional Officer
Addressing
Stress,
Stress NIJ
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Higher Risk

11. How to Reduce Stress
and Prevent Trouble
Due to the nature of the job, operators are continually trying to
manage with high staff turnover rates. When one employee leaves,
remaining employees are required to pick up the slack with
overtime- which only results in more stress. According to the
National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS), in 2000, the
average national turnover rate for correctional officers was 16.1
percent. The American Corrections Association (ACA) concluded
stress and burnout among the reasons for the high rate.
Corrections staff read about crimes in offender files, they view
assault and riot videos for training purposes. They witness first-
hand riots and assaults or have been victims. Gradually this
exposure, coupled with the high stress and need for continual
watchfulness, breeds symptoms of psychological disturbance such
as anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress and secondary
The American traumatic stress.
Corrections To reduce stress:
Association (ACA)
• Retain staff
concluded stress • Reduce conflicts
and burnout among •
•
Build to meet user needs
Institute an employee stress program
the reasons for the
high rate.
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Higher Risk

12. Retain Staff
High turnover rates result in large training and overtime expenses
and add to the already present stress to the remaining correctional
officers and staff. A report prepared for the Vermont Department
of Corrections revealed several factors that correctional staff
selected as reasons they wouldn't select corrections as a career or
for long-term employment:
• Pay/benefits not fair for the work performed
• Forced overtime with no thanks (summer the worst)
• Work stress
• Safety
• Backbiting
• Petty office politics
• Lack of team work
• Favoritism
How to Lower Costs Without Putting Staff at www.performainc.com 11
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13. Reduce Conflicts
As mentioned in the previous chapter on reducing injury, reducing
conflicts also reduces stress. Conflicts can be prevented by:
• Eliminating contraband
• Preventing overcrowding
• Strategically assigning inmates to housing
• Designing the facility to prevent conflict
How to Lower Costs Without Putting Staff at www.performainc.com 12
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14. Build With User
Needs at the Center
In the planning stage of any project, map staff movement and tasks
performed throughout the facility to gain an understanding of how
the new facility can enhance the job. When a facility makes the job
easier, the employee becomes more efficient. In the correctional
facility, an efficient employee is an employee with less stress.
When planning, here are ways to build a more positive
environment:
Creating consistency within correctional facilities allows staff
to become accustomed to space and supervision tasks The tasks.
National Institute for Corrections (NIC) reported that when direct
supervision was introduced in the 80s, most correctional officers
had at least initial adjustment problems. Even though direct
supervision was proven to be safer, with fear at the root, officers
were not trained how to be in direct and solo contact with
prisoners. Creating consistency with prison systems will allow for
easy facility transfers and standard training.
Boosting staff morale through facility design will also increase
retention rates. In effort to reduce the feelings of being locked up,
rates.
correctional facility design should include adequately sized and
furnished locker and changing rooms, muster rooms and training
rooms, well-located staff restrooms, cheerful dining and break
rooms and natural lighting.
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15. Build With User
Needs at the Center
Excessive noise levels in correctional settings are associated with
increased levels of stress and heightened safety and security
concerns among staff.
Noise was studied at the Oshkosh Correction Institution in Oshkosh,
Wis. The Wisconsin Department of Corrections Noise Study
concluded that:
• High noise levels contribute significantly to staff concerns
about safety, assault and maintaining control of their housing
units. In housing units with the highest noise levels, reducing
noise was ranked as the single most important strategy for
addressing staff concerns about safety and control.
• Correctional staff also identified noise as a major
contributor to stress and tension over staffing levels, lack of
program resources and co-workers' management
techniques.
According to the American Correctional Association's noise standard,
Inmate housing inmate housing should not exceed 70 decibels during daytime hours
should not exceed and should stay below 45 decibels (dBA) at night. In Oshkosh, when
noise levels were reduced below 65 dBA, staff tended not to
70 decibels during consider their unit noisy and reported they were less concerned with
inmate behavior as it affects their safety.
daytime hours
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16. Institute an Employee
Stress Program
In their report Addressing Correctional Officer Stress , the
National Institute of Justice (NIJ) states that a stress program can:
• Save correctional administrators money by reducing
overtime costs incurred when officers take sick time or
quit because of job-related stress
• Improve officer performance by enhancing staff morale
• Increase institutional safety by reducing distractions
caused by stress
• Improve relations with the union by working together on a
program that can mutually benefit both parties
• Show concern for employees by demonstrating that the
department cares about its staff as human beings, not just
employees
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17. Institute an Employee
Stress Program
In the same report, NIJ recommended several action steps that will
result in a successful program
• Appoint talented and dedicated staff who can stand the
stress of helping others who experience stress.
• Get the whole-hearted participation of top
administrators, union officers, line officers, and family
members.
• Maintain confidentiality; provide an array of services, not
just debriefings, after critical incidents; train supervisors
to spot and refer officers who may be experiencing stress;
and change the correctional organization itself in ways
that will reduce officer stress.
• Monitor program activities and evaluate their
effectiveness in reducing stress and saving the
department money.
How to Lower Costs Without Putting Staff at www.performainc.com 16
Higher Risk

18. Reduce Injury,
Reduce Stress
Cutting positions, not filling vacant positions, freezing pay increases
and new hires seem very enticing when taking into account staffing
can consume 75 to 80 percent of corrections budgets. When looking
at the affect, however, costs are simply shuffled around. This eBook
presented sustainable solutions that cut costs by reducing the
injuries and stress corrections employees encounter daily.
Reducing injury by:
by:
• Eliminating contraband
• Preventing overcrowding
• Strategically assigning inmates to housing
• Designing facilities that prevent conflict
Reducing stress by:
• Retaining staff
• Reducing conflict
• Building with user needs at the center
• Instituting an employee stress program
How to Lower Costs Without Putting Staff at www.performainc.com 17
Higher Risk

19. Jump start your
project with a free
correctional project
scoping work
session.
Let Performa show you how your facility can reduce staffing costs.
Their free initial planning session will lead your team through a
day-long work session that will help define a high-level project
scope plan. Lead by David Robillard, President of Performa's
Federal Programs Group, the free initial planning session reduces
risk, provides a solid strategic-decision-making tool and helps
ensure the project meets or exceeds cost-schedule and
performance objectives. The work session will examine:
• Facility staff/ space requirements
• Site selection and acquisition/ evaluation criteria
• Site configuration/ land use plan alternatives
• Project’s order or magnitude cost estimate
Sign up to receive the free initial planning session HERE.
How to Lower Costs Without Putting Staff at www.performainc.com 18
Higher Risk

20. Performa Inc.
Performa, Inc. is a complete planning, design and engineering firm located in
De Pere, Wis. As the premier consultant for the Department of Homeland
Security (DHS), Performa has established national design standards for
service processing centers located throughout the country and has provided
various services from strategic planning to design for DHS agencies which
include: Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Customs and Border
Protection (CBP) and US-VISIT.
www.performainc.com

21. David Robillard
David Robillard is the President of Performa’s Justice Program. He has worked
with numerous local, county, state, federal agencies and private sector clients,
providing them with strategic business, land and facilities consulting services.
David’s 25 years of commitment and dedication to justice work has allowed
him to be a strategic resource, helping clients achieve their goals by bringing
to them the most recent organizational, operational and functional
standards/guidelines and industry trends. He is personally involved in
technical studies in the areas of design guidelines, proto-type facility models,
site master planning, needs assessment, architectural programming and
design.
www.performainc.com