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'This is not a job, this is a career': Guard shortage causes jail safety concerns in Central Georgia

Laurens County's sheriff says they are short of jail guards and looking to hire more, and they're not the only ones.

LAURENS COUNTY, Ga. — Laurens County's sheriff says they are short of jail guards and looking to hire more, and they're not the only ones. This week, we've been telling you about the five inmates who escaped the Pulaski County jail.

The sheriff told us that happened because they had only two guards on duty when they should have had four.

Sheriff Larry Dean of Laurens County says, "It's really made it hard for people to want to come out here when they could go to Walmart or they could go to Home Depot and make them some money rather than sitting out here and having to work for $30,000 a year. Our starting salary is $28,500."

Dean says a jail guard needs to be mentally and physically strong to get the job done.

"Well, first of all, you are in an enclosed environment. When you walk in to a jail situation, you are locked down, 'click.' Only difference is that you get to go home after 12 hours. We've had people come out here and get a job and go to lunch and never come back," said Dean.

Sergeant Chris Johnson trains new guards.

"We do everything from serving the inmates trays, we give them their mail. We take them to medical appointments. We go pick them up from prison. We're the ones to have to make sure that they have everything they need because they can't provide for themselves," said Johnson.

Johnson says protecting the inmates is their duty.

"This is not a job, this is a career. You have to want to do this, this has to be something that you really inspire. You can't just wake up in the morning and say, 'I want to do that.' You have to want to serve the public and do it the right way," said Johnson.

"Right now, I made it available to my captain that I may have to pull some officers in off the street in certain times to go back there and assist because we do not want to take that chance to have somebody over power our officers," said Dean.

We reached out to both the Bibb and Houston County sheriff's offices about their jail staffing. Houston told us they are about 25 percent short -- that's close to 40 guards below full staff.

 Bibb County would not give us specific numbers for security reasons, but said they're getting part-time help from the Georgia Department of Corrections to cover their shifts.

 To apply, you have to be 18 years of age and have a GED or high school diploma, and you can't have a criminal history.

You'll need to be trained and certified, but Dean says the county has a great benefits package.

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