RICHMOND — The Virginia Department of Corrections is instituting a hiring freeze and working to cut “unnecessary spending” due to the surging costs of inmate health care, according to an internal memo obtained by the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
The announcement comes months after an internal report found VADOC facilities are “critically and dangerously short-staffed,” causing some state prisons to be out of compliance with department policies on medical treatment and staff and inmate safety.
In the memo, issued Thursday, Director Chadwick Dotson said VADOC officials will be “slow(ing) the recruitment, selection, and hiring process for vacancies across the agency” — although Dotson noted that the freeze will not apply to corrections officers, which the department will continue hiring.
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VADOC operates around 50 facilities and oversees around 31,000 inmates. Department spokesperson Kyle Gibson did not immediately provide a comment.
‘Challenging, but necessary’
Dotson’s memo attributes the pause “almost entirely to rising medical costs.”
Since 2020, VADOC’s annual medical costs have ballooned nearly 60%, from $7,941 to $12,399 per inmate, budget records show. Last year, almost 20% of the department’s $1.6 billion budget went to inmate health care.
That’s forced corrections officials’ to tighten their belts, Dotson said.
“No new offers of employment will be extended,” he wrote. He said he also expected “modifications to recruitment incentive programs.”
In addition to the hiring freeze, Dotson said officials would be “examining all pending procurements to determine items or services that could potentially be delayed.”
“Every unit is responsible for reviewing and eliminating any unnecessary spending,” Dotson wrote. “The maintenance of strict budget controls is not just a financial requirement, but a shared responsibility.”
“These actions are challenging, but necessary,” Dotson added. The memo does not specifically identify products or services that might be slashed.
Freeze likely to strain beleaguered department
It’s not clear what and how many positions will be impacted by the freeze.
While it’s not likely to directly exacerbate the vacancy rate for corrections officers, it could further strain other teams that are already stretched thin. VDOC’s staffing analysis, conducted by GCL Companies, found that at least three state prisons had total vacancy rates as high as 50% — a shortage that “impacts every aspect of facility operations.”
At Nottoway Correctional Center, day shifts meant to be staffed by eight nurses sometimes operated with only two. As a result, inmates either did not receive medical attention, or else received it late.
That would be enough of a problem if employees were merely performing their own duties. But that’s not the case, according to the staffing report: in many cases, “non-security staff are … required” to do the work of corrections officers.
GCL Companies also reported unsupervised housing units and recreation yards, and significantly delayed responses to critical situations.
Gibson previously told The Times-Dispatch that staffing issues were common among corrections departments nationwide, and that, despite the challenges, VADOC remains “perhaps the safest corrections system in the United States.”