LINCOLN — A record-high number of job vacancies and continued high turnover caused “staffing emergencies” to be declared Monday at two more prisons.

The declaration at the 518-inmate Lincoln Correctional Center and the 439-inmate Diagnostic and Evaluation Center means that staffing will shift immediately to two 12-hour shifts a day from three eight-hour shifts a day. That will allow required security posts to be filled with fewer employees.

Two other state prisons, the 1,000-inmate Tecumseh State Prison and the 1,250-inmate State Penitentiary in Lincoln, have been operating under staffing emergencies for more than a year in what has been described as a “short-term” solution to the lack of personnel.

Those staffing emergencies were expected to expire before the end of 2020, but Corrections Director Scott Frakes said Monday that a “slowdown” in hiring has forced the continuation, and expansion, of the emergencies.

“We are feeling the effects that many other industries and businesses are experiencing currently, nationally and across Nebraska,” Frakes said. “This is a very tight job market, especially in Lincoln.”

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