Surrency wants hazard pay for Cumberland corrections officers

A Cumberland County freeholder seeking re-election off the organization line in the July Democratic primary wants the county Department of Corrections to offer “hazard pay” for corrections officers.

“More than a dozen county corrections officers have tested positive for COVID-19,” said Jack Surrency. “When going to work is a hazard to your health, receiving hazard pay shouldn’t even be a question. We need to act now.”

Surrency’s running mates, Donna Pearson and Tracy Wells-Huggins, joined him in his demand for reforms at the county correctional facility.

“The infection rate of officers at the county jail is five-times the national average, and it’s unacceptable,” said Pearson, a former freeholder director who served two terms in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

They are seeking weekly coronavirus testing and reporting for officers, staff and inmates, and strict enforcement of protocols directed by the attorney general.

Surrency is running without the support of the Cumberland County Democrats, which had backed his 2017 campaign but declined to support him for a second term.