A federal penitentiary is set to open on the Southeast Side and the promise of higher pay has lured corrections officers from the State Prison Complex across the street, aggravating an ongoing officer shortage.
The penitentiary joins an existing medium-security Federal Correctional Institution and a minimum-security Satellite Prison Camp — both already in operation — at the Federal Correctional Complex on Wilmot Road south of Interstate 10.
By mid-January the federal complex had hired about 75 percent of the 520 employees it needs to be fully staffed, said Josias Salazar, executive assistant of the complex.
Inmates are expected to arrive at the U.S. Penitentiary-Tucson Monday, and within two years the high-security prison will house 960 violent inmates in fortresslike buildings surrounded with razor wire, Salazar said.
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The U.S. Bureau of Prisons is still looking for corrections officers to work at the U.S. Penitentiary, according to its Web site.
Recruitment efforts have been focused at local job fairs and community college campuses, but not directly from the state prison, Salazar said.
Still, about 20 guards from the Arizona State Prison Complex-Tucson, at 10000 S. Wilmot Road, have opted to take jobs at the federal complex, according to state prison officials.
Pay for prison guards starts at $36,867 per year at the federal complex, which is about $3,000 more than the $33,500 starting pay at the state prison.
With the loss of officers to the federal complex, there are now 102 unfilled guard positions at the state prison, according to prison officials. Statewide, the Department of Corrections has 347 guard positions at its 10 prisons.
The problem has been worse, said Greg Fizer, warden at the state prison in Tucson. In August 2005 the prison here had more than 220 vacancies for corrections officers. Since then, a pay raise approved by Gov. Janet Napolitano has helped relieve the problem, he said.
Federal prison officials have also kept in touch with their state prison counterparts to make sure the new penitentiary wouldn't hurt staffing levels at the existing complex, Fizer said.
"The intention was to staff the (U.S.) prison with as little impact on us as possible," Fizer said.
But the loss of 20 officers has put a strain on some units at Tucson's State Prison Complex, corrections officers said.
Fully staffed, the State Prison Complex would have 905 officers; currently it has 803. The prison's minors unit lost six officers to the U.S. Penitentiary, said Steve Utter, the corrections officer in charge of the unit.
No other prison in the state houses minors, and the young inmates present a distinct set of challenges for corrections officers, Utter said.
The boys serving time in the Tucson complex have been sentenced as adults because of violent crimes they committed, he said. Most of the time the boys didn't have a stable family life and don't know how to communicate, Utter said. So guards have to provide stability the boys never had.
Having lost six of those officers means some of Utter's staffers have to work mandatory overtime, adding to an already stressful job, he said.
Corrections Officer D. Houchin said he never takes the taunts of the incarcerated children personally. (Officers use only an initial and a last name as a security precaution.)
He has worked in the minors unit since 1998 and has been an officer since 1994, he said. Sometimes the inmates will pester newer officers to test them, he said.
"Once they see they can't get under your skin they back off," Houchin said.
Houchin has stayed with the minors unit for several years because he enjoys it, he said.
On the other side of the prison, the minimum-security Catalina Unit lost four officers to the federal complex, said Shift Commander Sgt. Carl Combs.
While the minimum-security unit houses the least dangerous criminals, Combs said losing four officers means he has fewer experienced eyes and ears on the yard. Those who left each had about six years' experience and they had become aware of the way inmates behave and what types of signals may trigger an incident.
Losing the guards has been hard on the unit, he said, but it hasn't become a safety threat.
Both Utter, who works in the minors unit, and Fizer agree that the Department of Corrections would have trouble recruiting and retaining officers without the pay raise approved by Napolitano.
Nearly 50 graduates from the Department's Correctional Officer Training Academy are expected to take jobs at the state prison in Tucson, according to officials at the prison.
Part of the training they get at the academy involves making sure they know the risks that come with working with incarcerated people and how to handle them.
The importance of that was made clear in late December when 10 officers were injured in two incidents at the state prison's Rincon Unit in Tucson.
Four officers were injured Dec. 20 in a scuffle with two inmates that began during a contraband search. Three more officers and another inmate joined the fray before the situation was resolved.
On Dec. 15, six guards were injured by an inmate who was walking from his cell to a prayer room. The inmate used a door to push over and assault the officers, officials said. It took several more guards to subdue him..
Sgt. D. Flanagan, who started working for the Department of Corrections' Florence Prison in 1999 and at Tucson in 2003, said he considered taking a job at the federal prison, but decided to stay because he didn't want to leave behind the promotions and pay raises he has already received at the state prison.
"I don't have any issues working here," he said.
comparing the facilities
Federal Correctional Complex
Inmates
• U.S. Penitentiary*: 960 high- security inmates.
• Federal Correctional Institution: 694 medium-security inmates.
• Satellite Prison Camp: 128 minimum-security inmates.
Staff
• 520 employees are needed for all three facilities.
• By mid-January the federal complex had met about 75 percent of its staffing needs.
• The starting salary is $36,867.
*U.S. Penitentiary will begin receiving inmates Feb. 5.
Source: Josias Salazar, executive assistant for the Federal Correctional Complex.
Arizona State Prison Complex
Inmates
• Total inmates: 3,794*.
• Inmates in minimum custody: 862
• Inmates in medium custody: 1,599
• Inmates in close (medium-high) custody: 1,316
• Inmates in maximum custody: 17
Staff
• 905 employees are needed for the facility.
• The current staff level is 803.
• The starting salary is $33,500.
*Population fluctuates about 10 to 15 inmates daily. Figures provided by the Department of Corrections on Jan. 17.
Source: Arizona Department of Corrections
