Correctional officers hired to fill jail shortages at J. Reuben Long

At the first of May, 13 new correctional officers will fill voids at the J. Reuben Long Detention Center in Conway, alleviating the burden of overtime the facility carries during the shortages.

The new, full-time recruits are going through the hiring process and are set to beef up the staff at the beginning of next month, bumping the jail’s numbers up to the 298-employee, fully staffed mark, according to Sgt. Timmy Tyner, spokesman with the Horry County Sheriff’s Office.

“We’ve averaged about 775 inmates in February per day, so 12-hour shifts with that many people will eventually burnout an officer, but they’ve hung in there,” said Wayne Owens, J. Reuben Long Detention Center Director. “We’re hoping to get these 13 hired in May to get our numbers back up to where they’re supposed to be.”

The jail never runs short-staffed, so employees work overtime to fill in the gaps as they wait for the new hires to replenish their numbers, officials said.

“We always make sure everything is covered,” said Tyner.

He said high-ranking officers have been pitching in to help carry the load.

“The folks who don’t work on shift normally like the supervisors … We’ve got captains and lieutenants that are getting in the trenches and working with these officers to fill the voids up where they’re needed,” said Tyner.

Officer safety is key for the facility, and the new hires will help by eliminating overtime that can wear on an employee.

“The safety of the officers is the utmost important. We want to make sure they’re well rested, well prepared. Any fatigue at any job is going to cause a lack of production, a lack of quality in work and that’s what we want to prevent, so that’s why we want to hire people quick … that way there’s not added stress to everybody else,” Tyner said.

“We want to keep morale up. … It picks up morale if you have your high-ranking officers jumping in and pitching in to help fill those voids. That way the added stress is not on an individual or a group of individuals. We try to spread the load to make sure everybody helps out.”

Owens said the jail budgeted $740,000 for overtime, and so far it’s on track and hasn’t exceeded it. He said that was the amount set aside for overtime pay when he became director in April, replacing Tom Fox, who was appointed to chief deputy of the Horry County Sheriff’s Office. Owens said the budget set aside for overtime dollars has fluctuated over the years and been sometimes more or less of its current amount.

Since November, 30 officers have been hired to the jail’s ranks as some have gotten promotions, retired, been out on medical leave or left for other local area law enforcement agencies or the military, officials said.

“We try to hire every two and a half to three months just to keep the numbers up. The next hire is going to be in July after the one in May, so we try to keep all the positions full as soon as we can,” said Owens.

He said that type of turnover is typical of other jails, and that detention centers and law enforcement agencies nationwide have struggled with manpower shortages.

The jail’s population is also rising as the county’s population swells. Last year the average was 640. The jail, which houses up to 1,000 inmates, is typically under maximum capacity, and it’s far too early to say what this year’s numbers will reflect overall, but so far those numbers are climbing, as the average was 775 last month, Tyner said.

“The county’s growing. The population is growing and as the area grows so does everything else,” Tyner said.

Numbers recently released by the U.S. Census Bureau listed the area consisting of North Myrtle Beach, Conway and Myrtle Beach as second in the nation in a list of top-25 fastest growing metro areas, stating the population grew from 432,493 in 2015 to 449,295 in 2016.

Tyner also said the county’s crackdown on heroin could be another reason for more arrests.

Owens said he’s glad to see the new hires coming on board.

“Extra manpower helps out everybody at J. Reuben Long,” he said.

This story was originally published April 1, 2017 at 6:55 PM with the headline "Correctional officers hired to fill jail shortages at J. Reuben Long."