TDOC reports contraband decline, staffing gains and an inmate tablet rollout

Department of Corrections leadership told the Senate Corrections Committee on Oct. 9 that the department has taken a mix of operational and technology steps to reduce contraband and expand education and training opportunities while continuing active recruitment to fill vacancies.

Commissioner Frank Stroud (introducing his leadership team) said the department invested nearly $8 million in staff-safety equipment — including body armor, additional metal detectors and radios — and reported a 25% reduction in contraband incidents as a result of enhanced searches, new technology and operational changes. Stroud said a new centralized commissary also reduces contraband while training approximately 70 inmates in job-readiness tasks such as pick-pack-ship operations.

Assistant Commissioner Heather Stanford told the committee TDOC’s total headcount is up 177 from the same time last year but that the correctional-officer vacancy rate remains approximately 27% statewide, with the highest vacancy at the northwest facility. She said voluntary turnover decreased by 5.3% year over year and that hiring events produced 122 conditional offers in the previous 12 months. The department still offers a $5,000 new-hire sign-on bonus (distributed over an 18-month period) and a $1,000 referral bonus.

Commission staff and lawmakers asked about augmentation — the temporary practice of using employees from other titles to fill custody posts — which TDOC said it is phasing out and restricting to nonmanager classifications while facilities improve staffing. TDOC’s inspector general told the committee the department enforces contract staffing requirements with private providers and routinely assesses liquidated damages for staffing breaches; since 2022 the committee was given an assessed total of $29,597,146.8 (including pending amounts) evinced by contract monitoring.

On technology and programming, TDOC said a contract for a new offender-management system is expected to be signed and installed beginning Nov. 1, with a multiyear migration ahead. The department also said inmate tablet devices began a pilot "go live" at a female facility the day before the hearing, and the department expects tablets in all state and private facilities within six to eight months; TDOC said tablets will host education, commissary ordering and scanned mail workflows to reduce physical handling of potentially dangerous mail. Education and vocational partnerships have expanded; Assistant Commissioner Gail Fenkell said the department now supports 21 TCAT programs and multiple college degree pathways and reported more than 1,400 inmates earned high-school or HiSET credentials in the past year.

Lawmakers praised several operational improvements but requested additional data (facility-level vacancy rates, augmentation hours, the 18-month liquidated-damages breakdown and detail on deaths classified as overdoses). The department committed to provide requested details to the committee.