FOP president says staffing issues, poor pay can't be overlooked when investigating Louisville jail deaths

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- In the last 12 months, Louisville's jail has been full of inmates, COVID-19 cases and problems.

On Tuesday afternoon, the committee created to promote effective jail population management at Metro Corrections, held one of its biannual meetings to see what can be done.

Assistant Director Steve Durham said more than 11,000 COVID-19 tests have been administered at the jail, and the only COVID -19 death at the jail was an employee.

But there have been other deaths.

"There were two suicides and three deaths over the period of six weeks in Metro Corrections," Durham said. "And even though we know what happened, no one should die in jail."

Durham answered questions and provided the latest information about the ongoing issues inside the jail.

"Like all of you, we are concerned about the deaths in our jail," Durham said.

Durham said all of the deaths are being investigated by Louisville Metro Police, and one has the attention of the FBI.

"They're going to look at whether the care and treatment, while in custody, reached the level of a civil rights violation or criminal misconduct," Durham said.

Daniel Johnson president of the Louisville Corrections FOP Lodge #77, shared the concern about the death investigations.

"I think they should investigate all of them," he said. "The biggest concerns that my members have is if they do everything according to policy, is it going to be enough to protect them criminally?"

And if the investigations uncover violations, Johnson said you can't ignore staffing issues.

"I can tell you that if we were fully-staffed and we had plenty of officers on each floor, your chances of survival through a medical emergency or a suicide attempt are much higher," he said.

Last week, the city and corrections officers agreed on a new contract and pay increase. Starting pay for officers will increase to $21.32 an hour, after previously being $17.41. All other positions will get an 8% raise, effective immediately. But Johnson said because of the ongoing issues, it's still not enough to attract and keep officers.

"I believe it will help some to a degree, but I don't think it's going to fix all of our issues," he said. "I tried to persuade the mayor's office that it needs to be more, because the $21.32 an hour is still not competitive. It's better than the $17 it was, but if you can still go to a warehouse or grocery store and make the same or more money stocking shelves or packing up boxes to be shipped, why do I want to go into a facility where I know COVID has run rampant?"

The next committee meeting is scheduled for March 22. To learn more about the Jail Policy Committee, click here.

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