Louisville Metro Department of Corrections Director Jerry Collins pushed back against staffing concerns raised by the newly sworn-in Fraternal Order of Police president, saying the jail maintains the best officer-to-inmate ratio in Kentucky.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) — Collins defended staffing levels at the corrections facility while acknowledging ongoing challenges, as union leaders warn that workloads are becoming overwhelming for officers.
Since taking over in March 2022, Collins has led efforts to overhaul operations at LMDC, focusing on curbing drug smuggling, reducing suicides and improving safety for both inmates and officers. Staffing, however, remains a persistent issue.
“We’re not short. We’re just not optimal because we are running a terrific operation right now,” Collins said.
His comments follow concerns raised by FOP President Daniel Johnson, who said officers are facing increasing pressure as he begins his term at Lodge 77.
“It’s getting to a point where it’s just more work than they can handle,” Johnson said. “It’s stressful. You’re basically a manager of anywhere between 300 to 400 people on the floor in a place, in a room, that they don’t want to be in.”
Collins said he previously worked well with Johnson during an earlier term as FOP president and expects that cooperation to continue.
“We worked great together before, and we’ll continue to keep two feet down and moving forward every day,” Collins said.
Collins added that the numbers cited by Johnson need additional context.
“The floors might have 300 folks on them, but they’re in 20 to 30-man dorms or person dorms,” Collins said. “We have 1,400, approximately 1,450 inmates today. We had 68 officers on duty for the whole jail, the Hall of Justice, booking floor and the main jail. That’s a 21-to-one ratio. That’s the best ratio in the state.”
He also outlined the department’s current staffing breakdown.
“We have a total sworn staff. We’re down 72. Of that, 57 are officers. Of that, 44 are in the areas you saw where the officers are observing folks. And that’s spread out over three shifts,” Collins said. “We’re talking, you know, our property, our intel, our professional standards unit training, things like that are one or two officers down.”
Collins said staffing issues are partly driven by retirements and officers leaving for other law enforcement roles faster than new hires can be brought in. He also noted that some positions were eliminated under his leadership to address cultural problems within the department.
“During COVID, I worked here, Corrections 101 was lost, and they felt they couldn’t afford to let folks go or hold folks accountable,” Collins said. “I feel like we’ve got to hold folks accountable.”
Collins said the department has improved benefits to attract and retain officers, including scheduled mandated overtime, a contracted 22% pay raise over three years and bonuses for volunteering in certain areas of the facility. He hopes these steps will help LMDC gain momentum in hiring and reduce future staffing losses.
“I’m not satisfied. I know the FOP ain’t satisfied, but I look forward to continuing to work together to get where we want to be. So, we’re getting there. We’re going the right way,” Collins said.
He added that progress will depend on collaboration and selecting the right candidates, saying the department could begin seeing hiring gains as early as 2026 by recruiting from upcoming academy graduates.
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