Low salaries may cause the high turnover rates for corrections officers in West Virginia.
West Virginia Corrections Officers are paid the nation's 49th-lowest starting salary at just $22,584. That salary is also about $800 below the federal poverty level for a family of four.
The American Correctional Association says West Virginia also has the nation's worst inmate-to-guard ratio in prisons, and ranks in the top ten states for staff turnover.
West Virginia also must deal with a decades-long problem of inmate overcrowding. That means inexperienced and often exhausted guards are left to manage an ever-growing and increasingly violent population.
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