Results from a recent survey of the 1,700 MGEU members who work in Corrections show alarming levels of burnout, chronic short-staffing and the impact of overcrowding in Manitoba’s jails.

"Over the last five years, staffing levels have remained virtually unchanged while inmate populations have surged," said MGEU President Kyle Ross. "This is creating a dangerous situation, with staff burning out and facing growing challenges managing inmates safely."

Key findings from the survey show overcrowding and short-staffing are having the greatest impact on Correctional Officers.

  • 46.9% feel overcrowding is the most important issue facing members, and 77% say overcrowding has gotten a lot worse in the last two years.
    • 88.6% feel that overcrowding significantly or severely contributes to unsafe situations for staff and inmates.
    • 79.2% feel that overcrowding has led to a significant or extreme increase in incidents such as fights, assaults, or disturbances.
  • Following overcrowding, the second most important issue members face is short-staffing (34.3%).
    • 81.1% say short-staffing has caused a high or very high increase in safety risks for officers and inmates.
    • 88.2% of respondents disagree or strongly disagree that morale at their workplace is high.
    • 60.1% have considered leaving their job in the last year.
      • Primary reasons include wellbeing, not feeling valued and inadequate staffing levels.

Members also shared anonymous feedback describing the challenges they face daily at work:

"We are consistently in survival mode with reacting to incidents… we do not have time, spaces or staffing to apply programming or interventions… It feels like we are all just waiting for something terrible to happen before the funding and resources will be seen as a priority."

"Having the same number of staff but raised number of inmates poses a real safety risk to both staff and inmates. Staff have the same amount of eyes but double sometimes triple the amount of […] hazards or threats to keep watch of."

"Our correctional facilities are under immense pressure as inmate populations grow in both number and complexity, while staff are left doing more with fewer resources," continued Ross. "We appreciate the Provincial Government’s commitment to building the new Dauphin Centre for Justice, but the survey shows our members need relief now. We’re calling for clear timelines for more concrete action to address overcrowding and short-staffing."