TORRINGTON (WNE) — Every industry is facing a nationwide labor shortage, and the Wyoming Department of Corrections is no exception.

“The actual number of vacancies changes from day to day, from minute to minute almost,” said Paul Martin, WDOC spokesperson, who said at the Torrington Telegram press time there were 15 open positions for correctional officers and eight non-uniformed positions at the Wyoming Medium Correctional Institution in Torrington, not including contracted positions.

“We have more vacancies now than we have ever had since we opened the prison,” WMCI Warden Michael Pacheco said.

WMCI is just one of five WDOC facilities. Each one has been struggling to get fully staffed since before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Martin said the Wyoming State Penitentiary in Rawlins and the Wyoming Women’s Center in Lusk in particular have both been struggling to get full staffing coverage.

“The workforce isn’t there,” Martin said. “Wyoming is not a heavily populated state.”

When recruiting for WMCI, Pacheco and Senior Human Resource Officer Patrick Montney try to focus on the benefits WDOC provides its employees, the most emphasized benefit being a 20-year retirement plan for correctional security and probation and parole agents.

Other benefits include paid sick leave and paid vacation. Starting pay for a correctional officer at WMCI is $17.96 per hour.

Besides correctional officers, other open positions at WMCI include food services specialist, shipping and receiving clerk, plumber, recreation specialist and vocational trainer in the garment shop.

“The pandemic has taxed staff,” Martin said. “We’ve been working many, many hours of overtime, and it is naturally going to affect staff, and when there are other opportunities, it’s not unthinkable to think staff would go somewhere else.”