ANNAPOLIS, Md. - A house bill is being presented to Maryland lawmakers next week to alter the hiring process for correctional officers.
House Bill 12 proposes having candidates take a polygraph test "and/or" an extensive background check. Western Maryland Delegate Mike McKay says he sponsored the bill after hiring correctional officers did not go past single digits in his district.
"And the number one issue that kept coming up was the polygraph, the polygraph. We just can't get enough people to pass the polygraph," McKay said.
Local lawmakers are also on board with the bill in response to the understaffing concerns at the Eastern Correctional Institution in Somerset County. Wicomico County Delegate Carl Anderton says after the recent indictments against some corrupt correctional officers, it's made it impossible to get even the good candidates hired in Maryland.
"I saw numbers from this past year that showed it's about a 40 to 50 percent disqualification rate," Anderton said.
Delegate Charles Otto agrees. Otto says those that have come back with inconclusive polygraph results should be afforded the opportunity to undergo an extensive background check in its place.
"I understand the sophisticated polygraph test and that certainly is a tool to help weed things out. But that shouldn't be, we've seen so many good, qualified candidates in our area that for some reason failed the polygraph test," Otto said.
The bill will be heard on January 22nd in the House of Delegates in Annapolis.
