The Williamson County Sheriff’s Office has 49 vacant positions at the county jail in Georgetown and is currently requiring corrections officers to work overtime in order to fill shifts.
Chief Deputy Ken Evans said that the staffing level at the jail was “getting close to 48-to-1,” referring to a state-mandated minimum 48:1 inmate-staff ratio.
“We believe that we are rapidly reaching a point where we will be potentially shipping some people out of the county and contracting out,” Evans told county commissioners this week. That would raise costs and liability because of the possibility of escapes during prisoner transfers, among other risks.
Evans took office earlier this year alongside the new sheriff, Mike Gleason. He briefed the commissioners court in Gleason’s place because the latter was out of town. “Since the sheriff took office… glaringly, we realized very quickly compensation was a challenge.”
The mandatory overtime policy is affecting morale in the corrections bureau, according to Evans. “The employees are already getting frustrated because they’re working so many hours… we’re moving people around left and right and have been for a couple of months (to cover shifts).”
“I spent lunch reading an email from a bailiff, very frustrated that he has to leave the court on his days off and go work in the jail to cover staffing.”
Williamson County doesn’t face the same staffing problem on the patrol side of the sheriff’s office. Those units are nearly fully staffed, Evans said.
Pay Increase
In response to the staffing shortage, county commissioners approved funds to increase pay for the corrections bureau of the Williamson County Sheriff’s Office, at a cost of $3.1 million a year at full staffing levels.
Starting pay will increase to $40,925.53 for entry level corrections officers, which equates to a more than 17% increase over the current starting pay of $34,767.80. That would be about 2% above the median pay of comparable agencies in the region.
The commissioners also adjusted the pay chart for increases based on years of service.
Sheriff Mike Gleason said in a statement, “I want to thank the Commissioners Court for taking this action to help solve our urgent concern of employment and retention in the jail. This increase will make us competitive in the region. We also have asked for compensation adjustments within the Law Enforcement Bureau that will be reviewed during the regular budget process.”
Our Take
- Understaffing at county jails is dangerous because it makes it more difficult for jails to meet minimum standards for welfare checks, inmate security, and record-keeping. This raises the risk of deaths in custody, whether from a health condition, drug overdose, suicide, or violence.
- A variety of local government agencies have been chronically understaffed for years, from the Austin Police Department to the Travis Central Appraisal District and county jails. The economic pressures of the post-pandemic boom, including wage hikes in the private sector, threaten to worsen the problem and impact service quality at local governments.
- The high number of vacancies in the Sheriff’s Office is another indication of poor management under the former sheriff, Robert Chody, who is under indictment for evidence tampering in connection with the death of Javier Ambler.
