SHELTON, Wash. — Corporal Krystal Dierick no longer feels safe working at the Mason County Jail.
"It's scary coming to work almost,” Dierick said.
A staffing shortage has caused the county to reduce the number of corrections deputies and inmates.
As of Thursday, three deputies were supervising 27 county inmates.
Dierick said one of the deputies is in the control room, monitoring activities throughout the jail with surveillance cameras.
The other deputies patrol the facility, serve meals, and book new inmates.
"If it's just me out there on the floor, because I have one doing court or medical, and then a fight breaks out, it's me by myself," Dierick said.
Corrections deputies packed the county commission chamber last week making sure commissioners knew about their staffing safety concerns.
"We need a change because all I see is someone getting hurt,” said sergeant Jason Zaniewski, a shift supervisor who has worked at the jail for 18 years.
He said he remembers when 12 deputies worked the jail, supervising 150 inmates.
Mason County Commissioner Kevin Shutty said the deputies got the commissioner’s attention.
“When we have a commission chamber full of corrections officers and union representatives, we know we need to take immediate action,” Shutty said.
He said law enforcement agencies across the state are struggling to deal with staffing shortages.
Shutty said Mason County is trying to solve the problem by offering $10,000 signing bonuses for new hires, current employees can qualify for $12,500 in retention bonuses, and 20 inmates were outsourced to the Nisqually Tribe’s jail near Lacey.
Dierick and Zaniewski said increasing pay would likely help deputy morale, preventing others from leaving Mason County.
Shutty said that would involve renegotiating the union contract agreed to last year.
“The sheriff and the commissioners have offered to sit across the table from the union and the corrections officers to try and figure out what we can work on,” Shutty said.