The state will transfer more than 600 people currently serving time at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola to the Allen Correctional Center in Kinder due to a major staffing shortage. In all, 602 inmates, or about 12 percent of Angola’s current population of 5100, will be moved. Department of Corrections Undersecretary Thomas Bickham said efforts to attract staff have failed to yield results.
“We’ve been able to do things over the years from a pay perspective,” said Bickham. “As recent as last year, doing a special interest rate and some premium pay, but it is not having the effect that we had anticipated.”
DOC officials believe that the area surrounding the Allen Correctional Center is better suited to recruit employees than Angola, which is located in West Feliciana Parish. Allen Parish has about 10-thousand more residents than its more rural counterpart.
“They have a little bit more of an area to pull from to get these employees,” Bickham said. “But, the warden there has been doing a really good job of attracting good employees and keeping them.
Last month state lawmakers approved the transfer of $2.6 million for 130 open positions from Angola to the Allen facility. DOC expects to hire at least 60 new staff members at Allen this month, not enough to supervise all 602 prisoners. Bickham says the transfers will take place in stages to keep from transferring the problem from one facility to another.
“We’re not moving all 600 at one time,” he added. “We realize they’re not going to be able to hire all 130 employees at one time. So, we are taking a staged approach, doing it in thirds. A third in April, a third in May, and a third in June.”
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