A recent report on Virginia’s prisons reveals a dangerous staffing crisis, with some facilities operating at staff vacancy rates of 50% or more. Some prisons have been so short-staffed that they have been unable to comply with the Virginia Department of Corrections’ policies on medical treatment, staff and inmate safety, and solitary confinement. 

The report, conducted for the Virginia Department of Corrections by an outside consulting group, found that at one correctional center, non-security staff are frequently required to do the work of corrections officers. That particular facility, Sussex State Prison, has had a 50% staff vacancy rate for at least six years.

For incarcerated individuals, prison understaffing leads to lockdowns, housing units being consolidated, limited access to educational and rehabilitation services and programming, and as the report demonstrates, delayed medical care. For corrections officers, staff shortages can lead to long shifts, dangerous working conditions, and extended time away from family, which contributes to increased stress, burnout, and other adverse mental and physical health impacts. Understaffing also threatens the safety of the institution, its employees, and those incarcerated, while severely limiting the availability of treatment and rehabilitation programs that prepare incarcerated people to successfully return to their homes and communities.

The staffing shortages in Virginia prisons underscore a larger national understaffing crisis that continues to grow. Texas, Alabama, and Georgia are just a few of the other states with documented critical prison staffing shortages. The Safer Prisons, Safer Communities campaign, launched by One Voice United and FAMM, two of the leading organizations advocating for corrections officers and incarcerated people and their families, aims to address this crisis in U.S. prisons, focusing on issues like understaffing, overcrowding, and deteriorating conditions.

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About Safer Prisons. Safer Communities

The Safer Prisons, Safer Communities campaign began in early 2024. The two founding organizations are One Voice United, which represents the voices of correctional employees, and FAMM, which represents incarcerated people and their families.

Driven by the dire conditions inside our nation's prisons, the campaign brings together seemingly unlikely allies to advocate for reforms that will improve the lives of corrections officers and incarcerated people alike, improve rehabilitation and reintegration opportunities, and enhance community safety.