Yes, chronically understaffed.  The state finds it cheaper to order holdovers and pay overtime than to keep facilities fully staffed.  Plus... who the fuck in their right mind wants to become a correctional officer?  We lower the bar and lower the bar and still cannot find enough people.

Gang infiltration of staff?  Non-existant in Alaska.  Gangs in Alaska consist mainly of wannabe's who would be eaten alive down south among the real gangs.

Occasionally, an officer on the lower end of the IQ spectrum will get played/trapped into bringing in contraband or doing something stupid.  Can't really protect people from their own stupidity.

Interestingly, a couple years ago Senate Bill 91 passed which, among other things, banned incarceration for 'minor' crimes.  That was the label and the stated reasoning was even short periods of incarceration are severely disruptive to a persons life so if the crime does not involve violence then why lock people up during the legal process?

The result was, literally, 'catch and release'.  Steal a car?  You get a ticket.

Petty crime skyrocketed.  My own truck was broke into while sitting at the mechanic's parking lot over night.  People wander around in the early hours of the morning, busting into cars, sheds and even homes.

I don't think it is unreasonable to say that others, besides myself, are irritated and that that irritation is edging toward a willingness to administer a thrashing should I happen to catch one of these idiots in the act.  The thing about administering a thrashing is that it very well could go wrong and I'd have to kill them.  So... I suppose the point is that well meaning knuckleheads in politics, interfering in things they don't understand, have real world consequences and those consequences can be severe.