Since the beginning of the year, there have been 81 employee “separations” at the River North Correctional Center, a state-run facility near Independence in Southwest Virginia. A total of 248 people work at the prison.
The Virginia Department of Corrections said separations include “voluntary resignations, transfers to other VADOC facilities, removals during the probationary period, involuntary terminations, and disability-related transitions.”
Corrections Officer Jeremy Hall was killed at the River North in late 2025, and his wife later filed a lawsuit aimed at addressing the department’s staffing issues.
After Gov. Abigail Spanberger took office in January, three people were tapped to serve as interim wardens at the facility, replacing Kevin McCoy — who no longer works for the department. Frederick E. Russell Jr. was promoted to the top spot there on July 25.
The department said on July 31, it had 1,650 open correctional officer positions across the state — a vacancy rate of about 29%.
A VADOC spokesperson explained in an email that the separations at River North didn’t represent people being fired and referred to the 16 dismissals in June and July as “not abnormal for the facility.” Among those were 10 resignations and 3 “involuntary separations.”
Will Pelfrey, a Virginia Commonwealth University professor who’s researched the criminal justice system, called the staffing situation “pretty terrifying” for COs.
“That's shocking, that's a tremendous number,” he said about the vacancy rate. “My first thought was about officer safety.”
To control understaffing, VADOC said it will focus on recruitment and retention, among other tactics. “However, there is no single solution to a workforce challenge of this magnitude,” a spokesperson wrote.
Part of the plan to tamp down on the issue was bolstered by this year’s state spending plan, which includes $7.8 million for hiring and retention incentives as a part of VADOC’s $1.6 billion annual budget.
Nine hiring events were held in July, according to the department, and efforts to reach potential employees at “high schools, colleges, military communities, and local communities” are underway.
Pelfrey explained the logic behind recent high school grads being recruited to work at state prison facilities.
“If you're 18 and you can serve in the military and go to war, then it's reasonable that an 18-year-old could serve as a correctional officer,” he said. “Is that ideal? No. I'd rather have somebody with a couple of years of college or an associate's degree or a couple of years of military experience. But if your agency is down by nearly a third of its correctional staff, then somebody who doesn't test positive for drugs, somebody who passes your entrance requirements and is willing to take the job, then yeah, you're going to take them.”
The corrections department said the safety of incarcerated people and staff “remains first and foremost in our operational decision-making.” To ensure that, VADOC is prioritizing staffing of “essential security posts and functions,” “strategically deploying available personnel” and allowing overtime — a gambit that costs the department millions of dollars every year.