An attorney for correctional officers at the Allegheny County Jail on Tuesday called on county officials to hire 45 more officers to relieve what he characterized as chronic understaffing.

“It has to be addressed,” Eric Stoltenberg, attorney for the Allegheny County Prison Employees Independent Union, told county council members at their regular meeting. “Workers are spending far too much time in a very demanding job. We need some relief and that relief can only come from hiring.”

The jail currently has about 410 full-time officers and 18 part-time officers, he told council members. The union, however, believes the jail should have 430 full-time and 43 part-time officers, Mr. Stoltenberg said.

“When the jail has previously kept staffing at that level, overtime was drastically reduced and working conditions were safer,” he said.

In June, July and August, Mr. Stoltenberg said, the jail spent a total of about $2 million on overtime. Although the union’s agreement with the jail says officials can’t force officers to work overtime more than once in a two-week period, correctional officers said they are routinely required to work mandated overtime more frequently.

Jason Batykefer, vice president of the union, said he once had worked three mandated overtime shifts in a two-week period. In one two-week period, he twice worked eight-hour shifts and then was forced to work a subsequent eight-hour shift, and was also forced to pick up another five hours after a third eight-hour shift, he said.

“It’s going to get somebody hurt,” he said. “If you constantly go 16 hours, 16 hours, you’re not going to be able to do your job 100 percent effectively.”

Council members did not respond to Mr. Stoltenberg’s comments during the meeting, and county spokeswoman Amie Downs did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday evening. 

Mr. Batykefer and the president of the union, Eric Paul, said they wanted to bring their concerns before county council after they felt private discussions with county officials had stalled.

“We’ve been going over this for --” Mr. Batykefer said.

“Two years now,” Mr. Paul finished.

Shelly Bradbury: 412-263-1999, sbradbury@post-gazette.com or follow @ShellyBradbury on Twitter. 

First Published: March 20, 2018, 11:04 p.m.