In late June, I told you that there had been two suicides at NorCo jail within the span of 10 days. Executive Tara Zrinski has acknowledged a third suicide on September 23.
Pedro Santiago-Espinosa, age 38, was described in an obituary as a "free spirit" and a Liberty High grad. But he also had an extensive criminal history. He had just finished an arson trial on September 21 and was found guilty in February of indecent assault. He had been sentenced to 5 1/2 to 11 years in state prison on that charge but was in NorCo's jail for the arson case.
Houston, we got a problem. County jail and Gracedale. New leadership needed. A Comic, drama queen leadership isn’t the answer.
ReplyDeleteThanks!
ReplyDelete-The Tax Payer
Unclear what the point of this post is? The guy is dead. Let him rest.
ReplyDeleteThe point of this post is that a third individual has committed suicide at the jail since June. It is short-staffed and COs are being mandated. We have an obligation to protect the community but also have an obligation to protect those who are in custody, even those who are bad apples.
DeleteGracedale ha been a problem for years. As far as 3 suicides in the jail, I cant for the life of me see how this reflects on our Countyy Executive..
ReplyDeleteIt is no reflection on Zrinski. She has pointed out on several occasions that the jail staff is short-handed and underpaid and has vowed to address that issue. Also, even though COs are working under tough conditions, I know that they have actually stopped several suicide attempts.
DeleteThis is the third suicide under the watch of the new director. She is in over her head and clearly lacks the qualifications to lead effectively. She has lied directly to council and it’s time TZ finds a new leader for the facility.
ReplyDeleteHow did she lie?
DeleteShe told council she had sat down with union officials and resolved several outstanding grievances. That never happened.
DeleteShe claimed to council that she resolved several grievances and improved morale at the prison after a few months on the job. Both are blatant lies. She hasn’t resolved a single grievance and morale is at its lowest point in over a decade. The building requires true leadership at this moment and she’s not up for the task.
DeleteHow can Zrinski resolve anything. She doesn't come in to her office before 11am everyday Monday through Friday.
DeleteThe jail is now at 120 officers, that's almost half of what they are supposed to have. At these #s it is officially unsafe for both inmates and officers. I still have contact w/ some officers and many are just looking for a new job anywhere else. This staffing issue needs to be addressed yesterday before someone worse happens.
ReplyDeleteKyle I’m not sure if you’re in the area still but we could use your voice at council meetings. They can’t threaten you for telling the truth because you no longer are employed by the county. It’s an absolute clown show and we could use a voice on our behalf.
DeleteIm not living in that state anymore. As to speaking at council or to media, I did as president and was threatened. by administration. If you learn union/ prison rules you can speak up and should.
DeleteThe jail has been in a serious state of crisis for some time now. But after a third suicide in less than three months and dangerously low staffing levels, a few days after the suicide three quarters of the administration chose to go away for a three day conference instead of remaining and dealing with the issues. That’s real leadership for you.
ReplyDeleteIt’s care, custody, and control. Anybody can commit suicide in jail if they try hard enough. Running a jail is a county core function, and right now ours is understaffed, and from what I’m hearing, not run vey well. I feel bad for the COs there. They get treated like shit.
ReplyDeleteMaybe we can start executing our prisoners like Iran, Saudi Arabia, and China #1. Can you believe that the Fort Hood Shooter’s Execution Will Be Public and Streamed Live, Pentagon Says
ReplyDeleteIf carried out, the public execution of Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan by firing squad set for Dec. 3 would be the first in modern U.S. history. Well at least Americans gets what it deserves. Are we happy now?
The cruelty is a feature, not a bug
DeleteCYF is significantly understaffed too. Kids are dying. All of this attention is on Gracedale, all departments need oversight, accountability and money to pay staff. Council needs to get their heads out of their asses and govern the whole county not just Gracedale. Wake up.
ReplyDeleteThe COs are the problem. They could immediately improve the mandate situation if they would agree to change their schedule. They refuse.
ReplyDeleteLol. I want to know what administration head said that. The only thing the county offered the officers was to volunteer for the OT shift . And maybe get a 250 bonus if you volunteer. Not mandate you . Lol. Before you open your mouth you should know what you're talking about. The head of HR told the union they aren't changing ANYTHING!! Even though they are close to 100 officers short.
DeleteSounds like a Kraft comment. Why did you leave the jail kenny??? 80 some thousand a year for you to work 3 days a week... Sound familiar??? (Lamont) No secrets in jail Kenny...be careful truth could come out.
DeleteI feel bad for the CO’s. They aren’t going to get Tara’s Indigenous People’s Day off. However, they will be getting time-and-a-half.
ReplyDeleteYeah they don't get paid days off for snow storms. Or paid days off for hurricanes. Or paid days off during Covid. Just mandate away...
DeleteUnlike Lehigh County, Northampton County Corrections Officers have every other weekend off. This is a major driver of mandates and overtime pay. The Corrections Officers refuse to give up this bargained for benefit.
ReplyDeleteTalk about schedule. Majority of county employees work 8-430. We all know that does not happen with the jail they make their own schedule 6-2, 7-3 or whenever if they have personal things to do they get to leave or adjust to their needs, while the cos get mandated over and over again.
DeleteUnlike Lehigh county, a officer at Northampton county with 15 years in doesn't make what a 1st year officer at Lehigh makes. That's why there's no mandates at Lehigh. They just had an academy of 20. Northampton county can't get 5. Keep trying.
DeleteThe starting pay for Northampton county is extremely lower than almost every other class 3 jail in our state;
ReplyDeleteYork; $30.83
Berks $27.81
Dauphin $26.00
Chester $25.76
Lehigh: $25.74
Monroe 25.05 (class 4)
Lackawanna $23.15
Cumberland $22.30
Northampton $20.26
This is something Mcclure has failed to address over and over again as the county has been ran broke and balanced the budget on the backs of the employees year after after. As stated above many departments need help not just the jail and I think we can all point to one person.
NCP has had no trouble hiring. In fact, the Corrections Officers consistently refused to raise the starting wage, but no matter over the last 12 years 1000 CO’s have been hired in Northampton County. But, what the exit interviews show consistently is that the long tenured CO’s are running off the new hires.
DeleteThis sounds like a typical HR stance.
DeleteCorrections Officers are the highest paid employees in the County. They have a great union (AFSCME), and their staff Guy Thomas Tosti fights like a tiger for them. He gets them a boatload of big bucks !
ReplyDeleteLol. Tom isn't even there anymore!!! And the are the lowest paid COs anywhere around the area. You look at the cash. Make sure you look at the hours with the cash
DeleteThe union sucks. They are only the highest paid bc of all the (mostly) unwanted overtime.
DeleteWhen your taxes go up, make sure to tell everybody how good you feel about giving county workers a big raise !
ReplyDeleteThis needs to be said. No raises are deserved. I choose senior taxpayers over underperforming employees whom it's impossible to fire. Enough already.
DeleteYou would under perform too if you were forced to work as much as these officers are.
DeleteNorthampton County Department of Corrections needs to be dissolved as an entity and the responsibility given to the Sheriffs Department. Whatever that takes will be worth it in the end.
ReplyDeleteStaffing is going to get even harder after the sheriff contract gets approved. The CO's are going to be forced to take over all the medical transports that the sherrifs no longer want to do even after getting bigger raises. More overtime on the way.
ReplyDeleteThis cant be done the sherif responsibilities are written in HRC the transport and watch
DeleteWell I hope you're correct, but the rumor is the prison will do all medical transports and sheriff's will only sit on 2 hospital details. Let's just hope they don't leave a convicted felon unsecured and unmanned again.
DeleteTara is going to start sending prisoners out to other prisons. It will eliminate the mandates and really cut back on overtime.
ReplyDeleteLol this will solve absolutely nothing. You know we have to pay for that right? There are also not enough inmates that qualify to be sent out that would close down housing units. Not closing units means not saving officer positions. Still the same overtime.
DeleteCorrect
DeleteThe facts of the situation in NORCO as a whole are that the employer has failed to hire and RETAIN employees for the better part of a decade due to not remaining competitive in the LV job market with competitive wages. There are pay studies to show that county employees are underpaid compared to similar/same jobs in neighboring and similar class counties. All of this, while for years being one of the wealthier counties in the state. I don’t think any county employee is claiming they should be the highest paid in the state, just comparable. As for the jail, there is data to prove that when salaries were more competitive, the staffing levels were better, and overtime was minimal. To the people that see the posted earnings of CO’s and say they are overpaid, just know that a huge chunk of that earnings is due to OT. OT that is not the fault of a schedule, but that of a chronic understaffing crisis. A crisis fueled by not having competitive wages. The starting salary is $42,160, barely over $20 an hour. This is for a job where you can be assaulted, have bodily fluids thrown on you, etc. If this is so desirable and the pay is so exorbitant, we should see all of you anonymous commenters lined up to apply. Remember how little you think public servants should be paid when you require their services and there’s no one there to help you, care for you or protect you. Also, this is not because the employees don’t want to help…it’s because the employer failed at it’s obligation to the public in keeping these services staffed properly.
ReplyDeletePerhaps the recently hired internal investigator can look into what happened. Oh wait, he quit after less than a week on the job after being told by the director and the PSA that all investigations can’t proceed without clearing it with them first.
ReplyDelete