DOC tells committee vacancies are near 310 with 12% corrections vacancy; department says overtime covers minimum staffing
Loading...
Summary
Department of Corrections leaders told the House Finance subcommittee roughly 310 positions are vacant statewide, correctional officer vacancies sit around 12%, and DOC runs continuous recruitments and out‑of‑state outreach to fill posts; DOC said some vacancy funding is used for overtime to maintain minimum staffing.
Department of Corrections officials told legislators that staffing shortages remain a major driver of its FY27 request, with about 310 vacant positions across DOC and a correctional officer vacancy rate approaching 12 percent.
“We have a dedicated recruitment unit,” Deputy Commissioner April Wilkerson said, describing continuous recruitments for security staff, attendance at outreach events and targeted advertising to recruit candidates who may be drawn to Alaska’s outdoors. Wilkerson said DOC is trying to reduce the lag time from application to boots on the ground and has a dedicated hiring process to accelerate onboarding.
When Representative Ballard asked whether vacancy funding was being used as a so‑called “slush fund” to cover operations, Ballard called the available, unspent vacancy dollars a “slush fund”; the chair interrupted and said the term was inappropriate and that the funding is an allocation for staffing. Wilkerson said some vacancy funds are applied to cover overtime costs to maintain minimum staffing when positions cannot be filled quickly.
“Through the chair to representative Allard, our correctional officer vacancy is... it's pushing 12% right now. But overall, we have about 310 vacant positions today,” Wilkerson said.
The department described a national staffing challenge and noted DOC’s target staffing ratio is roughly 1 officer to 5 inmates for planning (national averages are often cited at about 1-to-4), with locations and security levels varying. DOC participated in a 16‑week National Institute of Corrections staffing‑analysis training for managers and plans more annual staffing analyses to inform recruitment and reduce reliance on overtime.
Committee members asked DOC to supply detailed vacancy lists, the highest total overtime payouts, salary-with-overtime examples and unit‑level staffing ratios before the next meeting.
The subcommittee plans to continue the fiscal review at its next meeting on Feb. 19.
