Officials: Low pay causing vacancies for state prison, parole jobs

By Cy Ryan

Thursday, Feb. 4, 2016 | 4:06 p.m.

CARSON CITY — The state Division of Parole and Probation and the state’s prisons are short of staff because of low salaries compared to local police and sheriff’s offices, a criminal justice panel was told today.

James Wright, director of the state Department of Public Safety, told the Advisory Commission on the Administration of Justice that state officers receive 20 to 30 percent less compensation than those with local law enforcement agencies.

Wright and E.K. McDaniel, interim director of the Department of Corrections, said they will ask that some of the 5 percent bonuses provided for certain positions be restored after they were eliminated through state budget cuts.

Natalie Wood, chief of the state Division of Parole and Probation, said she has had to hire back officers who retired to handle the load of supervising felons.

Wood said her agency supervises 5,500 parolees and 13,000 probationers annually. The retirees who come back can handle the low-risk offenders, she said.

McDaniel said the prison in Ely is 61 officers short.

Wright said the problem of staffing shortages is not only in law enforcement angencies but in other state agencies, too.

Of 1,000 people who apply, only 50 make it through the law enforcement academy after background checks and testing. It costs $60,000 to fully train and officer.

Wright said officers who clear the academy do not jump into jobs in local government; it’s the officers who have been on the job four to five years who have not received a salary step increase. Hiring back retirees is only a short term fix, he said.

McDaniel said the Legislature budgeted to handle 12,890 inmates, but there were 13,658 at last count.

The commission, which will hold seven meetings, will make recommendations to the next session of the Legislature.