County Corrections Staffing, Wages At Issue

Milwaukee County Jail and Milwaukee County Courthouse. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

The leaders of Milwaukee County’s two correctional facilities are concerned about the approaching pay disparity between county corrections officers and state corrections officers that will begin next year.

During a meeting of the Milwaukee County Board’s budget committee this week, both Sheriff Denita Ball and Community Reintegration Center (CRC) Superintendent Chantell Jewell noted that their facilities remain understaffed and that pay will be an important part of addressing the issue.

Ball and Jewell, during their respective testimonies, noted that state corrections officers, starting after Jan. 1, 2024, will make $33 an hour. There are several state correction facilities in the region and one directly across the street from the county jail. Both officials expressed concern that their COs may go to the state — which has its own corrections staffing problems — starting next year.

“And so I think it’s hard to put a number on it,” Jewell said. “But anything short of that [pay level], I think, is going to be detrimental to our workforce.”

Along with concerns about competitive pay, Sheriff Ball charged that County Executive David Crowley‘s proposed 2024 budget does not prioritize public safety. The budgeted amount for the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) was approximately $10 million lower than what the department requested.

Community Reintegration Center

Jewell told supervisors on the board’s budget committee that the CRC is currently short 50 corrections officers and that the population in custody is approximately 1,000 people.

The facility had an annual staff turnover rate of approximately 30% as of August. This is an improvement from 2022, when the facility had a 55% turnover rate.

The facility has instituted internal incentives for recruitment, that allow corrections officers to get 30 days off of the forced overtime list if they successfully recruit someone for the facility. The facility has also made some personnel changes in order to improve recruitment, Jewell told supervisors.

While Jewell stressed that pay is an important part of retaining staff, she also noted that the culture at the institution was important to employee retention. She noted she’s been trying to shift the culture and also work on programs focused on employee mental well-being.

“We have to take care of the people that are taking care of our people,” she said.

Milwaukee County Jail

The Milwaukee County Jail has nearly 40% of its staff positions vacant. This is leading the MCSO to rely heavily on overtime to keep the jail staffed.

Sheriff Ball noted that corrections officers are working 12 to 16-hour days and sometimes losing one of their days off as well. This is making it difficult for the jail to maintain the staff it has. During one three-month period, the MCSO hired 100 corrections officers and lost 108, Ball said.

“We are working on the backs of our employees,” she said.

The county executive’s recommended budget includes a pay increase for corrections officers that amounts to $542 on an annual basis, said Pat Caravetta, MCSO fiscal administrator. Meanwhile, the $33 starting pay beginning next year at the state Department of Corrections would amount to an additional $12,000 annually.

Sheriff Criticizes Crowley

Ball also took issue with the fact that the MCSO received less funding than the agency requested in the county executive’s 2024 budget. The proposed MCSO budget is $57.6 million, which is $7.4 million more than the 2023 budget.

Caravetta said the proposed property tax levy support is $8 million less than what the MCSO requested. The MCSO wouild receive a $9.8 million increase in property tax support in Crowley’s budget, but Caravetta said most of this pays for “technical changes,” or expenses that were previously paid out of a different government account but that are now funded within the MCSO budget.

“We are not receiving enough funds to adequately give the people within the county the services that they deserve,” Ball said. “So public safety is not a priority, it appears.”

Asked to respond to the sheriff’s comments, Crowley told Urban Milwaukee that he disagreed with the characterization that the budget didn’t prioritize public safety. He pointed to the proposed budget increase this year and previous years for corrections officer pay.

“I can understand the frustrations with any department head or department leader not receiving the funds that they feel like they need to receive,” Crowley said. “But unfortunately — we got the sales tax, which helped us a lot — but we still don’t have the flexibilities to be able to fund many of the programs and services that these folks desperately need. It’s unfortunate.”