As Orange County correctional staff face more pressure than ever under orders to house immigrants detained by federal immigrants enforcement agents at the local jail, medical staff employed by the corrections department say the county is undervaluing their work.
Orange County Jail, the fourth-largest jail in Florida, houses more than 3,000 people per day on average, as of last year. Since March, the jail has also had an agreement with ICE to serve as a temporary holding center for people accused of violating federal immigration law.
A glaring problem that’s emerged, however, beyond concerns of due process rights for detained immigrants, is that the jail is also short-staffed. According to an internal report, the jail had a 26 percent vacancy rate as of January. To help recruit more correctional officers, the county agreed to give correctional officers a 22 percent raise this year, as part of union contract negotiations…