Prison Staffing Woes

WVAS | By Melanie Hogan

Published February 24, 2023 at 8:57 AM EST

The head of Alabama’s troubled prison system said Wednesday staffing remains “the number one issue” in the department.

Alabama Corrections Commissioner John Hamm said the department is looking at outsourcing, pay raises and retirement changes to boost the number of officers.

Hamm said the state plans to put a bid out to hire a private security firm to staff prison positions that do not interact with inmates. He said the department has 688 funded vacant positions in security.

A federal judge earlier this month questioned the state’s lack of progress in complying with his order to increase the number of officers.

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Melanie Hogan

Melanie began her career as a work study student, working in the areas of news reporting, anchoring and news-gathering. After graduating from Alabama State University, she worked as a production assistant at the local NBC affiliate, WSFA-TV. As a News Director at WVAS-FM, Melanie leads her team to produce award- winning newscasts and talk shows. Her professional achievements includes News Reporter of the Year for a number of years and awards for talk show producer, by the Alabama Broadcasters Association and the Associated Press. She is an active member of the Montgomery Area Chamber of Commerce. Her goals are to expand the reach of WVAS FM into more homes locally, regionally and nationally.

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