{"id":198708,"date":"2015-04-09T04:00:39","date_gmt":"2015-04-08T18:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=198708"},"modified":"2015-04-09T04:00:39","modified_gmt":"2015-04-08T18:00:39","slug":"corrections-is-at-66-percent-capacity-guerrero","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/corrections-is-at-66-percent-capacity-guerrero\/","title":{"rendered":"Corrections is at 66 percent capacity\u2014Guerrero"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The CNMI\u2019s Department of Corrections is working at 66 percent capacity, but can still function to accommodate the department\u2019s requirements, said acting Corrections commissioner Robert A. Guerrero.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_198710\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-198710\" style=\"width: 150px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a attid=\"198710\"  href=\"http:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/guerrero-pix.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/guerrero-pix-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"Robert Guerrero is surrounded by Corrections officers during a Senate hearing on Guerrero\u2019s appointment as Department of Corrections commissioner. (Joel D. Pinaroc)\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-198710\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-198710\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Robert Guerrero is surrounded by Corrections officers during a Senate hearing on Guerrero\u2019s appointment as Department of Corrections commissioner. (Joel D. Pinaroc)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>He also disclosed that, like any other agency, the department needs more funding to address some concerns.<\/p>\n<p>Guerrero, who was on Capital Hill for a public hearing on his nomination as the new Corrections commissioner, said the \u201cbiggest challenge\u201d that he will face, if and when he gets confirmed, is still funding.<\/p>\n<p>One project that he mentioned was setting up a law enforcement academy to fulfill the deficiency in the department\u2019s manpower.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are planning to start a law enforcement academy, with the Department of Public Safety, to hopefully add 30 more officers,\u201d Guerrero said, adding that \u201cthis costs money, but somehow we\u2019ve got to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The additional 30 officers can bring the Corrections manpower complement to  almost full capacity, Guerrero said, noting that the department currently has around 60 officers for 185 inmates.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere a lot of good officers at the DOC, and a lot of good working men and women,\u201d Guerrero said.<\/p>\n<p>However, he said the officers have to work overtime to accommodate the department\u2019s requirements. \u201cOne issue is that if we let them work overtime for long periods of time, they might get burned out,\u201d Guerrero said.<\/p>\n<p>He also said there is a plan for the DOC to share resources with the Department of Public Safety. An arrangement can be made so that counselors working for DPS can also work for Corrections.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe plan to work closely with the DPS, and share resources,\u201d Guerrero said, adding that Corrections can still maintain its functions because it has state-of-the-art facilities and good management.<\/p>\n<p>Guerrero succeeded Ramon Mafnas, who is now a special assistant for projects for the government.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The CNMI\u2019s Department of Corrections is working at 66 percent capacity, but can still function&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":198710,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[446,35,215,3571],"class_list":["post-198708","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","tag-doc","tag-dps","tag-public-safety","tag-ramon-mafnas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198708","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/49"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=198708"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198708\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/198710"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=198708"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=198708"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=198708"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}