Inmates exercise in the high-security courtyard of the Lansing Correctional Facility in Lansing, Kan. When prisons go into lockdown, access to the courtyard and other activities, including rehabilitation programs and work, are often limited or completely suspended. (John Moore | Getty Images)
Across the United States, state prison systems are struggling with chronic understaffing and overcrowding – twin crises that keep incarcerated people locked in their cells for far longer than in decades past.
Lockdowns are common in jails and prisons across the country, but usually last only a few hours or days. During lockdowns, access to rehabilitation classes, religious activities, work and visits is limited or completely suspended. Incarcerated people in lockdown may lose their usual routines, such as exercise, phone calls to loved ones and other structured activities. And the meals are typically eaten in the prisoner’s cell, further isolating them.
Recently, lockdowns have been extended for weeks or even months in many short-staffed facilities.
“What’s unusual here is that you have these longer lockdowns,” Michele Deitch, director of the Prison and Jail Innovation Lab at the University of Texas at Austin, told Stateline. “People are not in that situation for disciplinary reasons. They are there for the convenience and management of the institution.”
Prisons in many states have implemented extended lockdowns. In some cases, they have increased tensions within prison walls, sometimes contributing to violence between inmates and staff, increased drug use and deaths by suicide.
For example, the Green Bay Correctional Institution in Wisconsin resumed normal operations in July after more than a year of lockdown. As of November 29, the facility housed 1,080 people, almost 45% more than its planned capacity of 749.
Meanwhile, Waupun Correctional Institution, also in Wisconsin, has been in some form of lockdown for more than a year. At least five detained people have died since June 2023. Nine current and former staff members, including the facility’s previous director, face felony charges in connection with two of the deaths.
The facility has resumed normal operations “for the most part since this summer when in-person visitation resumed,” Beth Hardtke, director of communications for the Wisconsin Department of Correction, wrote in an email to Stateline.
As of mid-November, the vacancy rate for corrections officers and sergeants in adult prisons was nearly 12%, down significantly from a peak of 35% last August, according to the department’s workforce dashboard. In the state’s juvenile facilities, the vacancy rate is about 10%.
“The past few months of modified movement have allowed staff to examine our policies to increase safety while providing individuals in our care with high-quality educational and therapeutic programs and services,” said Jared Hoy, Secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Corrections in a June press release.
The South Dakota Department of Corrections in October ended a 17-day lockdown of nearly 1,300 people at the state prison in Sioux Falls. During the lockdown, corrections officers discovered contraband, including handmade weapons and unauthorized electronics.
Tennessee has fined private prison operator CoreCivic $29.5 million for failing to meet staffing requirements at four facilities since 2022.
In Texas, some facilities are operating with a 70% vacancy rate for corrections officers — meaning these prisons are trying to maintain security with less than half the number of officers they need, according to a September report from the Sunset Advisory Commission, a legislative agency charged with evaluating the state. departments. The review came in the wake of a statewide prison lockdown that lasted just over a month last year, prompted by an increase in contraband and drug-related killings among inmates.
Lockdowns are one of those things that just fly under the radar.
– Michele Deitch, director of the Prison and Jail Innovation Lab
The report highlights that the state’s incarcerated population is expected to outgrow the Texas Department of Criminal Justice’s bed capacity by the end of fiscal year 2025.
And a federal investigation into Georgia’s state prison system found conditions that violate the U.S. Constitution, including rampant violence, sexual assault, drug trafficking and gang activity, according to a report released in October by the U.S. Department of Justice.
The report also found that sexual violence remains widespread in isolation areas, and that the Georgia Department of Corrections incarcerates some people along with others who sexually abuse them.
An investigation by the nonprofit news outlet Truthout found that between 2016 and 2023, at least 33 state prison systems had placed incarcerated adults under non-disciplinary lockdowns at least once — and often repeatedly or for extended periods.
Despite many extended lockdowns and increasing pressure to fill vacancies and manage growing prison populations, most states do not report or are legally required to disclose the frequency of lockdowns or what types of incidents occur during them, some say prison policy experts.
“Lockdowns are one of those things that just fly under the radar,” Deitch of the Prison and Jail Innovation Lab told Stateline. “We underestimate the number of people affected by these types of policies.”
Rising tensions and serious consequences
The long-standing problems of understaffing and overcrowding in U.S. prisons were brought into sharper focus during the COVID-19 pandemic, when widespread lockdown restrictions and severe staffing shortages further strained correctional facilities.
These shortages extend beyond corrections officers and affect prison health care workers and other essential workers.
According to the Jefferson City News Tribune, an incarcerated Missouri man in severe pain pulled out his own teeth in 2021 after being unable to get a dental appointment due to staffing shortages.
These extended lockdowns increasingly resemble restrictive housing or solitary confinement, where incarcerated people are confined to their cells for up to 24 hours a day with minimal human contact or access to activities, Deitch said.
“You will see much more tensions rising among the population, which could lead to more assaults and other forms of abuse. It’s more likely that you’ll see people using drugs or something like that to escape all that,” Deitch said.
In September, an inmate attacked two correctional officers at the Iowa State Penitentiary. Union leaders said the attack on staff was symptomatic of the agency’s understaffing; it was the 33rd attack of the year on the prison.
In Illinois, workers at more than two dozen state prisons gathered in October to protest unsafe working conditions. Officers reported an increase in violent attacks on personnel and exposure to narcotics, synthetic drugs and other toxic substances. Since December 2, at least four state prisons, all of which faced protests from officers, have been on partial or full lockdown.
The Illinois Department of Corrections operational and management reports show a large increase in the number of lockdowns across all facilities, with 635 in fiscal year 2019 and 1,814 in fiscal year 2024.
The pressure on employees
Across the country, corrections staff are often required to work overtime due to severe staff shortages.
These extra hours leave officers little time to rest, spend time with their families or manage personal responsibilities, making it difficult to maintain a healthy work-life balance, according to Andy Potter, a former corrections officer and founder of One Voice United. a national advocacy organization representing corrections staff.
The demanding schedules can also take a significant toll on staff’s physical and mental health, leading to burnout and further exacerbating the workforce crisis as some officers leave the profession entirely. This cycle places even greater pressure on the remaining workforce, perpetuating a system that is stretched beyond its limits.
The state prison population also grew 2% from 2021 to 2022, reversing a long-term downward trend, according to the latest data from the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics.
The growth could continue: Several states recently passed laws aimed at cracking down on violent crimes, drug-related crimes, shoplifting and other crimes that could send more people to prison. The states include Arizona, California, Colorado, Georgia, Louisiana, Oregon and Tennessee.
Yet prisons across the country have long struggled to recruit and retain staff. The number of people working in state prisons fell to the lowest level this century in 2023, according to the latest data from the US Census Bureau.
Some states have tried to address prison understaffing by raising starting wages and offering comprehensive benefits packages. But the strategies that attract new workers won’t keep them if mandatory overtime and poor working conditions continue, worker advocates say.
“There is a real blind spot when it comes to how employees are treated, how they are trained and how they are viewed in this paramilitary structure,” said Potter, who has more than two decades as a Michigan corrections officer. worked.
“I don’t think you’ll ever have any success in locking down a prison,” he said, “other than being able to maintain the security and safety of those in your charge and those who are in your service.”
Stateline is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Stateline maintains editorial independence. If you have any questions, please contact editor Scott S. Greenberger: info@stateline.org. Follow Stateline on Facebook and X.
