Colorado’s Supermax Prison Has a Guard Shortage, So They’re Using Secretaries, Maintenance Workers As Guards

By Shawn Patrick on December 30, 2022
Photo by Robert Daemmrich Photography Inc/Sygma via Getty Images

The nation’s most secure prison is Colorado’s FCC Florence supermax prison. Some of the country’s most notorious criminals like Eric Rudolph, Boston Bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and El Chapo are housed there. Yet staffing shortages have the people guarding these horrendous humans lacking experience.

Prison secretaries, case managers, maintenance workers and counselors are picking up shifts to guard the worst of the worst criminals thanks to a shortage of workers who are actually assigned to be guards,

In a statement, a Bureau of Prisons (BOP) spokesperson said staffing at the prison in Florence is one of the agency’s top priorities. The statement emphasized that all staff members are trained as professional law enforcement officers and the practice of asking workers to fill in is not new.

However, I can’t help but think that if there is some maintenance worker, who probably doesn’t make a ton of money, guarding some dude like El Chapo and he’s offered a large sum of cash for secrets, how does he not think about it t least… Not saying it’s right, but that’s why we have these type of places, because people don’t always do what’s right.

Hopefully the prison is able to fill it’s staffing needs sooner than later.

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