Work, pay affect jail turnover

Many use corrections work as stepping stone

By GINA KINSLOW

Some area county jails are experiencing a high turnover of deputy jailers. Among them is the Barren County Detention Center.

In the past six months, the Barren County Detention Center has had six deputy jailers leave on their own and one was terminated.

Jailer Leland Cox said there is a high turnover for deputy jailers.

“We have a lot of people to leave for different reasons and not just because they don’t like the work here, or they don’t like the boss, or they don’t like the employees here,” he said. “There’s a lot of reasons why they leave.”

Stress is one of the primary reasons employees give for leaving.

“If you can’t take a cussing, you definitely don’t need to be in this job, because you are going to get one pretty regularly and some people just don’t handle it very well,” he said.

Cox starts all deputy jailers out as part-time employees. Doing so allows him to see if they are going to be able to handle the stress of the job before the county is out any expense for health insurance or retirement benefits.

“The national turnover in corrections is 38 percent,” Cox said. “So, four out of every 10 (deputy jailers) are not going to stay.”

Another reason why deputy jailers leave is the pay.

Compared to the pay of surrounding counties, Barren County deputy jailers are among the lowest paid with a starting salary of $8.75 per hour. Warren County deputy jailers start out at $10.66 per hour.

Next in line is Hart County with a starting pay of $9.18 per hour, followed by Barren County then the Monroe County jail at $7.59 per hour.

“We are one of the lowest-paid departments in the county system,” Cox said.

Warren County Jailer Jackie Strode said he can understand employees leaving for better paying jobs. Several of his deputy jailers leave to seek careers in law enforcement.

“We are a stepping stone,” he said.

Cox and Hart County Jailer Keith Riordan agree they do lose a lot of deputy jailers to law enforcement agencies.

“Where our turnover is, is when we get these 22 or 23 year olds who come in here and want to do police work and when they get in here they see how rough it is,” Riordan said. “It’s a pretty rough old job.”

Cox has also had several deputy jailers move on to careers in law enforcement.

They’ve gone to work for the Barren County Sheriff’s Department and the Glasgow Police Department from working at the jail.

Sheriff Chris Eaton has four deputy sheriffs who got their start in law enforcement by working at the Barren County Detention Center. Working at the jail, Eaton said, is a good place for someone seeking a career as an officer to get their foot in the door.

Among Eaton’s deputies who started at the Barren County Detention Center is Steve Runyon.

“I got hired under Ronnie Scott when he was jailer,” Runyon said. “I was wanting to further my career in law enforcement. The jail was a good starting point.”

Runyon said working at the jail taught him how to communicate with people in stressful situations.

Another reason behind the high turnover of deputy jailers is the age at which employees can retire.

Strode pointed out that employees who work at the Warren County Regional Jail cannot file for retirement benefits until they have put in 27 years. Those who work for law enforcement agencies can retire after serving 20 years, he said.

One solution to the high turnover of deputy jailers would be to have a larger budget. Cox said if he had more money he could afford to pay the deputy jailers a better salary.

“If I could do that, they wouldn’t be as (likely) to leave,” he said.

Higher salaries would help, but Cox said there are still going to be some deputy jailers who will leave because they simply don’t like the job.