Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Corrections Revenue topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Essex County corrections reports multimillion federal and inter‑county revenue; overtime tied to absences remains problem
Summary
The corrections director said 2025 collections exceeded projections — led by US Marshals and inter‑county contracts — while warning that high levels of intermittent FMLA and unpaid suspensions drive overtime; he also described new mental‑health and vocational programs to aid inmates and reduce recidivism.
Ron Charles, director of the Essex County Department of Corrections, told commissioners that the corrections operation had an active year of revenue and program development in 2025 while continuing to manage staffing and overtime pressures.
Charles listed 2025 collections that pushed department receipts to about $86.3 million: ‘‘We collected 29,300,000 for the US Marshals Service, the Union County contract was $14,400,000, the state prisoner reimbursement was $2,600,000, [and] the substance abuse grant was $23,000,000,’’ he said. Charles told the committee the US Marshals contract is profit‑generating in current per‑diem terms and said the department negotiates per‑diem and mileage to reflect transport and medical costs.
Commissioners also probed overtime and staff‑absence patterns. Charles reported a high number of intermittent and consecutive Family and Medical Leave Act cases and unpaid suspensions in the uniform ranks — he gave current counts including roughly 240 staff on intermittent FMLA, 14 on consecutive FMLA and about 30 unpaid consecutive suspensions — and said the department is monitoring absences in real time and applying progressive discipline. ‘‘That’s why the county executive and the chief of staff has allowed me to go over [staffing],’’ Charles said, explaining temporary over‑hiring to cover people on no‑pay or medical leave.
On programming, the director highlighted a mental‑health step‑down unit (the county’s only unit of its kind in the state), a medication‑assisted treatment program, and vocational offerings (culinary arts, OSHA certification, CDL training). Charles said those services are linked to reentry planning and community partnerships and that the corrections department is coordinating with outside providers to place people after release.
Charles warned that absence‑driven overtime is an unpredictable cost driver and urged enforcement of attendance and mandation policies to reduce mandatory fill‑in shifts. The board took no formal vote on the corrections budget at the hearing but signaled interest in follow‑up on staffing, overtime projections and the status of the medical services RFP.
