CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. — Franklin County is sending roughly a quarter of its jail population to other counties and keeping two housing units closed because it does not have enough correctional officers to safely staff them, as an increasingly frustrated county administration searches for a way out of a years-long staffing crisis.
Warden Heather Franzoni told county commissioners at their latest meeting that a proposed agreement intended to improve correctional officer pay and schedules was rejected by unionized correctional officers in August, eliminating what she considered one of the county’s best tools for recruiting and retaining officers.
The consequences came quickly. Human Resources Director Tiffany Bloyer said some officers resigned within a day or two of an earlier unsuccessful vote because they had hoped for a schedule change. Following the August vote, she said additional officers left within hours.
Nearly $500,000 the county had been prepared to spend on higher wages and retention bonuses under the proposed settlements has instead been redirected toward paying other counties to house Franklin County inmates, Franzoni said.
“While this is certainly not where I prefer to invest those dollars, it’s allowed us to address an immediate operational need.”
Jail sends inmates out to match staffing
Franzoni said out-of-county placements have allowed Franklin County to reduce the number of inmates physically housed at its jail by about 25 percent.
The jail’s work-release unit and one housing unit remain closed because reopening either would require more officers than the county has available.
Franzoni said the transfers are not simply an attempt to reduce the jail population, but to keep the number of inmates residing at the facility to a level existing staff can safely supervise.
Franklin County has struggled for years to maintain its correctional officer ranks. In October 2025, county records showed just 52 filled positions on a roster of 96 despite more than 500 applicant interviews and nearly 140 correctional officer hires since January 2022.
Exit interviews with departing officers repeatedly identified unpredictable schedules and a lack of weekends off among the reasons employees were leaving, according to a county press release from last October.
The union has previously described the shortage from the officers’ perspective, saying employees were being forced into excessive mandatory overtime and that severely reduced staffing was creating safety concerns for both officers and inmates. AFSCME Local 589 officers publicly called for better wages, retention incentives and faster training during the dispute last year.
Local 589 has previously opposed proposed scheduling changes and argued that the county should instead focus on higher wages, retention incentives, training and relief from mandatory overtime. The union did not respond to LocalNews1’s request for comment on why members rejected the August proposal.
County says its offer presented a solution
Franzoni said the rejected proposal was designed in part to address the scheduling problem without forcing veteran employees to give up the arrangements they already had.
Existing officers could have remained on their current schedules, she said, while new employees could be placed on 12-hour shifts. The agreement also would have allowed the county to increase wages and market what Franzoni believed would be a more attractive job to prospective hires.
County officials argue that a relatively small group of senior correctional officers helped defeat the proposal despite benefiting from the existing scheduling and overtime system.
Commissioner Robert Ziobrowski summarized the county’s concern bluntly. He described four or five senior officers who have favorable Monday-through-Friday schedules and access to substantial overtime, while other employees work nights and weekends and face mandated overtime.
Ziobrowski asked Franzoni whether it was fair to say the vote failed largely because senior officers who benefit from the present system resisted the change.
“That’s correct,” Franzoni replied.
Franzoni then cited payroll records showing that the jail’s five highest overtime earners had collectively received about $146,600 in overtime through the county’s most recent paycheck. She said overtime amounted to 42 percent of one employee’s gross salary so far this year.
Corrections will always require some overtime, Franzoni acknowledged. But she questioned how employees could cite excessive hours and missed family events as reasons for leaving while rejecting a proposal she believed would reduce those problems.
“I’m having a hard time understanding, and I’m just disappointed in the outcome,” she said.
Later, Franzoni described her reaction more personally.
“I was heartbroken that it was voted down,” she said.
Franzoni was careful to distinguish between local members and AFSCME leadership in Harrisburg. She praised state union representatives for what she described as professional guidance and said she believed they tried to lead local officers toward a deal that would benefit the bargaining unit as a whole.
New hires to start with 12-hour shifts
With the settlement rejected, Franzoni said jail administrators are now using management authority to place new correctional officers on 12-hour schedules.
The new hires will receive every other Friday, Saturday and Sunday off and will continue receiving overtime and shift differentials required under the collective bargaining agreement. Franzoni emphasized that the change is new and she does not yet have enough experience with it to judge whether it will improve retention.
There are some early signs of recruiting progress.
Franzoni said the jail recently held its most successful job fair, attracting eight people compared with the two or three who normally attend. Eleven applicants were in various stages of onboarding at the time of Wednesday’s presentation, while one employee had recently started and at least two more were expected to begin shortly.
The county is also trying to determine whether workplace culture is contributing to turnover.
Bloyer said HR and jail administrators will begin meeting individually with new correctional officers after 30, 60 and 90 days to ask about training, working conditions and their treatment by coworkers. She said officials have heard concerns from new hires and departing employees involving culture and scheduling and want a clearer picture of what is happening inside the facility.
Commissioner John Flannery described the problem as a “culture issue” and questioned whether some senior employees were putting their own interests ahead of the institution.
Franzoni said she and her staff are continuing to search for additional changes that could improve work-life balance, job satisfaction and retention.
“This has been an extremely challenging time,” she said. “I think we’re going on like two years. It’s like the song that never ends.”
Despite the frustration, Franzoni said her responsibility remains unchanged: keeping both employees and inmates safe.
“No matter what resources I have, every day I want to make sure that every staff member goes home to their families at the end of their day,” she said, “and I also want to make sure that those who are entrusted to our custody remain safe and secure.”
