Lockdowns are not permanent solution

Lockdowns might be an effective short-term solution to inadequate staffing at South Carolina prisons. But lawmakers need to provide the money for more officers in the state’s prisons so routine lockdowns no longer are necessary.

S.C. Corrections Director Bryan Stirling noted in a recent interview that until he can raise staffing to a comfortable level, he has resorted to sequestering inmates in their cells so that fewer guards are necessary to oversee them. When in lockdown, prisoners spend all but an hour a day in their cells.

During the confinements, they are given meals in their cells and no visitation from family members is allowed. That means that dining halls and exercise yards are vacant for most of the day, and cameras can monitor many areas instead of guards.

Stirling concedes that he orders the lockdowns only as a last resort and that the confinements can create headaches of their own. But, he said, despite aggressive recruitment, he has found it hard to keep staffing levels up to the numbers needed to ensure safety.

Being a prison guard is a difficult and sometimes dangerous job. Guards also work long hours and make less than officers in the state’s law enforcement agencies.

The Corrections Department reportedly loses 40 to 50 percent of new hires during their first year on the job.

But accepting a permanent shortage is not acceptable. The situation could be improved with higher pay, fewer hours, more overtime, more training and better benefits – all of which cost more money.

While lockdowns might work as a stopgap measure, they are certain to take a toll over time. For one, they verge on excessive cruelty to inmates who otherwise would be able to interact with other inmates and move more freely in common areas such as exercise yards and dining halls.

Being locked up can breed discontent and anger, which ultimately puts guards at greater risk of harm from the prisoners they oversee.

In addition to punishment, a prison sentence also is supposed to offer the chance of rehabilitation. It is hard to engender an attitude that authorities are helping to prepare inmates for life in the outside world when they are confining them to their cells for long periods of time, which amounts to a form of sensory deprivation.

We understand the need to ensure public safety at a time when prisons lack the staff to do so by conventional means.

But we hope the Legislature will provide the funding for more guards so that lockdowns are used only in emergencies such as fights or riots.

This story was originally published December 6, 2016 at 6:49 PM with the headline "Lockdowns are not permanent solution."