We are in the midst of a profound crisis in our nation’s correctional system.
Across the country, our nation’s prisons are dangerously understaffed and overcrowded.
Policymakers must act now to protect the health and safety of correctional staff, incarcerated people, and the public at large.
Prisons across the country are dangerously understaffed, overcrowded, and plagued by rapidly deteriorating conditions.
One Voice United (OVU) and FAMM, two leading organizations representing correctional staff (OVU) and incarcerated people and their families (FAMM), have joined together to form the Safer Prisons, Safer Communities campaign.
For too long, our constituencies have been pitted against one another while the safety and wellbeing of our colleagues, friends, and loved ones has suffered. While it may be surprising to some people that we would work together to draw attention to this crisis, we know our fates are intertwined and we have a shared goal of ensuring the health and safety of everyone who works and lives in prison.
EndorseFor too long, our constituencies have been pitted against one another while the safety and wellbeing of our colleagues, friends, and loved ones has suffered. While it may be surprising to some people that we would work together to draw attention to this crisis, we know our fates are intertwined and we have a shared goal of ensuring the health and safety of everyone who works and lives in prison.
SAFER PRISONS SAFER COMMUNITIES
In The News
October 8, 2025
The New York Prison System Is Facing a Potential Disaster “Unprecedented Since Attica”
The failure of the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision to recruit an adequate amount of staff is based upon a misunderstanding of how the job is viewed by most of society. Is correctional officer the job someone applies for when they have made all the right life choices? No. Usually, it’s the job someone applies for in an act of desperation when lack of education or ambition has limited their employment opportunities. Prisons are the most wretched and miserable, roach-infested, mice-ridden places in this country. They’re packed with mental health patients, addicts, and people convicted of every crime, some of whom are innocent. Many facilities are sweltering hot in the summer, and sometimes blistering cold in the winter. Warehouses of human suffering. No one wants to work inside prisons much more than the people locked inside want to live in them.
Read ArticleOctober 2, 2025
Safety concerns behind bars: Correctional staffing shortages remain high in Tennessee
An annual fiscal report reveals staffing shortages at Tennessee correctional facilities, although lower then before, remain high, despite recent pay raises and hiring incentives. Yesterday, the Tennessee Senate State and Local Government Corrections subcommittee conducted a hearing on the state of job vacancies in the state's prisons and those operated by CoreCivic.
Overall, the state has seen a 29% decrease in job vacancies at prisons since February, when higher salary packages began to be offered.
Read ArticleOctober 2, 2025
Nebraska ranks near top of U.S. in prison overcrowding, OIG of Corrections reports
Nebraska is first in overcrowding by operational capacity, and second by design capacity, according to federal data. Nebraska formally entered a prison overcrowding emergency in 2020 when the system surpassed 140% of its design capacity, as determined by the available bed space across all prison system facilities. Though the way the state measures such emergencies has broadened under state law, Koebernick said the system hasn’t officially resolved its existing crisis, so the emergency remains in effect.
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