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Hiring Backlog At Fresno County Jail Could Get Worse

Joe Moore
/
Valley Public Radio
Fresno County Jail (file photo)

The Fresno County Sheriff's Office is making progress filling a backlog of vacant correctional officer positions at the county jail.

The office is expected to give a mid-year update to the Board of Supervisors Tuesday including their need to fill 39 open jobs. That's down from 66 openings just three months ago.

But Sheriff's spokesman Tony Botti says that number is only going to grow over time.

Botti: "Over the next three years we need to hire 127 correctional officers. So what you are seeing is just the first wave of this. We have people who are retiring. We have people that choose to leave the job"

Botti says the office is under pressure to increase correctional officers because of a lawsuit that accused the jail of being understaffed. 

However, he says they are aggressively recruiting new officers in the community to fill the gaps.

Jeffrey Hess is a reporter and Morning Edition news host for Valley Public Radio. Jeffrey was born and raised in a small town in rural southeast Ohio. After graduating from Otterbein University in Columbus, Ohio with a communications degree, Jeffrey embarked on a radio career. After brief stops at stations in Ohio and Texas, and not so brief stops in Florida and Mississippi, Jeffrey and his new wife Shivon are happy to be part Valley Public Radio.