More than 60 percent of the required staff positions are unfilled at the overcrowded, violence-plagued prison which houses Alabama’s death chamber.

The Montgomery Advertiser reports that maximum-security Holman prison currently employs 72 security staff members of the 195 it needs to cover all shifts.
Authorities are investigating a string of assaults and one homicide this month at the prison, which is located near Atmore in rural southwest Alabama.

Prison system spokesman Bob Horton says staffing shortages are generally more severe at rural facilities like Holman, and attrition is high because employees have to work overtime.

Also, Horton says Alabama’s old prisons like Holman require more employees than a new one would.

A federal judge has cited inmate overcrowding and staffing shortages as overarching issues for the department.
(Associated Press, copyright 2018)

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