SPANISH FORK — Low pay, high scrutiny and the threat of violence are all factors contributing to a staffing crisis at police departments across the country, and a Utah jail may know the realities of the situation as well as any agency.

The Utah County Jail is currently operating with 12 open job positions — 25 when considering 13 jobs that were included in the jail’s initial expansion plans in 2008, but were never filled — according to the jail’s commander, Utah County Sheriff’s Chief Deputy Darin Durfey.

“We’re on mandatory overtime because we’re short-staffed,” Durfey said Wednesday.

Durfey acknowledged some of the jail’s employees work enough overtime hours to constitute a second full-time job.

“They’re working 166 hours in two weeks – that’s probably not somebody who is fully attentive, but we have people that do that,” Durfey said.

Despite the situation, Durfey said safety and security issues are being met and the jail — which he billed as the only “completely direct-supervision jail” in the state — is managing to run as smoothly as any in Utah.

Still, he said the potential is there for burn-out among workers.

“We have had some challenges, certainly,” Durfey said.

Several of those challenges are outlined in a strategic plan drafted by the jail and issued to the Utah County Commission.

The jail, according to the document that was obtained exclusively by KSL, has seen its inmate population climb from 210 when the current Spanish Fork facility was opened in 1997 to roughly 900 today.

Since the 2008 expansion, the average daily population has grown by about 50 percent.

“The individuals that are confined in jail today are much more violent, aggressive and have more serious charges and criminal histories,” the document reads.

At the same time, keeping pace with the incarceration needs of a growing county has not been easy.

“It is no secret that we are experiencing difficulty in recruiting, attracting, hiring and now retaining staff for corrections,” the document states. “We have seen the number of applications decline drastically and the number of candidates testing has declined dramatically. We have also seen a shift in the quality of the individuals who have applied and tested for jobs.”

Recommendations

The strategic plan recommends increased wages and changes to Utah County’s health care package, along with the addition of a variety of deputy and staff positions at the jail in the coming years.

One specific recommendation involves the addition of two property/mail clerks for 2017.

Randi Olander is currently the sole full-time mail clerk, tasked with scrutinizing as many as 4,000 pieces of incoming and outgoing mail in a given week on her own.

Olander said she must screen mail for illegal substances and other contraband, as well as for content.

Additionally, she helps other workers stow and manage inmates’ property.

The strategic plan notes the Salt Lake County Jail has “12 dedicated mail clerks in their staffing plan, with roughly an inmate population of twice (Utah County’s) current inmate population.”

“[That] means all that mail probably doesn’t get screened, and it doesn’t get screened effectively,” Durfey said.

Potential for 'bad times'

Though Durfey said the jail continues to operate effectively, he acknowledged the potential for “bad times” in the future if the current issues are not addressed.

Durfey said 60 percent of the command staff is eligible to retire right now, and many more staff members will be eligible to retire over the next two years.

“I’ve got a workforce – probably 25 percent of the workforce here in corrections – that can retire in the next year-and-a-half,” Durfey said. “If that 25 percent decided in the next two years to leave, we’d be in real difficulty.”

Hiring challenge

While recruiting new jail deputies and other workers has been tough, Durfey has been able to find capable hires, including Deputy Jeff Pehrson, who left the construction industry and now supervises 64 inmates in a cell block.

“We verify that all the inmates are here, that they’re safe, that they’re accounted for,” Pehrson said. “You’re here, you can see the problems, you can watch them. As things develop, you’re able to put a stop to problems before they become a major issue.”

Durfey noted that the hiring challenge was recently addressed in part with an entry-level wage increase that was approved by the county.

He said the matters of pay and benefits still require attention at the jail, however, and some action may be required at the state level to address recruitment issues that impact all of Utah’s law enforcement agencies.

“It’s not just a single issue – this is a plural issue,” Durfey said. “Those are all things that we want to address and make sure we’re planning for the future.”

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