Prosecutors in Pasquotank County announced Wednesday that they will seek the death penalty for the four inmates accused of murdering four state employees at a prison break attempt at Pasquotank Correctional in October.

Meanwhile this week, new details emerged from the incident in April where an inmate at Bertie Correctional murdered a correctional officer, Sgt. Meggan Callahan. Because of staff shortages at Bertie, Callahan only had four of her staff on duty that day. At the time of the attack, she and one other officer (who had been on the job less than a year) were tasked with securing 250 inmates.

A co-worker told the Charlotte Observer that Callahan confided in him just hours before the attack that “She didn’t know which (of her co-workers) would have her back because they were new and they were not properly trained.” As the story goes on to report, there are many factors that have contributed to the understaffing problems at our prisons that put state employees in harm’s way. Many prisons are built in rural areas where it’s hard to recruit employees. The state pays officers in maximum-security prisons about $8,000 less than the national average. All of this makes it harder to recruit and retain staff members, which makes prisons more dangerous.

SEANC continues to work with legislative leaders and Cooper Administration officials to address understaffing, low pay and many other concerns surrounding correctional employment. Officers must be given the policies and resources to be successful. Correctional officers and prison staff, leaders need to hear from you. You are the ones who know what needs to change. If you have ideas for how to improve our prisons, please click here and let us know. You can include as little or as much information about yourself as you like. We hope to compile these suggestions to present real solutions to tackle these issues to lawmakers.