MONROE — Green County officials have moved a step closer to being able to return female prisoners from the Iowa County Jail in Dodgeville, after the sheriff’s department announced the hiring of three new deputies — including two highly-sought-after female corrections officers.

The issue related to a shortage of female COs first arose last summer when four female inmates were first moved — out of necessity — to the Iowa County Jail on July 26. They were mostly inmates awaiting trial or those who couldn’t post bond. The jail simply didn’t have enough staff, particularly female corrections officers to continue to hold them.

And they have more hires to make before returning the female prisoners. But the hiring of three new jail staffers recently goes a long way to reaching the goal.

The new deputies include: Deputy Tyler Eldridge who joined the department with three years of experience as a Wisconsin Department of Corrections officer. Deputy Tara Baldwin came to Green County Jail with previous experience in juvenile justice. She also attends Blackhawk Technical College, where she studies criminal justice. The third new hire is Deputy Paige Prien, who transferred to the jail following two years as a dispatcher. Prien has two bachelor’s degrees from Drake University — one in psychology and another in socio-legal studies.

Beyond basic staffing ratios, some responsibilities of holding either female — or male — inmates are gender specific, according to officials.

“We expect that we will be fully staffed with our allotted female jail deputy positions within the next couple of weeks and male jail deputy positions by the end of the year,” said Sheriff Jeff Skatrud. “As of today, (Nov. 14), we expect that we will have everyone trained up to be able to get our female inmates back sometime during the spring of 2023.”

Deputies also have been logging overtime to help make up for the staffing shortfall.

The cost of holding an inmate in another jail is between $50 and $60 per day as well as Green County being responsible for medical costs and the transportation of the inmate to Iowa County and back if required for a court appearance.

Depending on individual qualifications and previous experience, new staff members undergo a 12-week training period and are required to attend a 5-week jail academy within their first year of employment, according to the sheriff.