Higher wages urged for prison officers

Some Department of Corrections officers say their low pay has them living on food stamps or working other jobs to make ends meet.

And some legislators want that to stop and are urging their colleagues and Gov. Mike Leavitt to bring corrections salaries up to par before they say the state is plunged into a crisis.Organized by Rep. Gary Cox, D-Kearns, a press conference last week drew more than 120 employees of the Department of Corrections to the site of the new Salt Lake County Jail.

The employees, many with babies in their arms or in strollers, applauded several lawmakers who spoke of the need to achieve salary parity before the exodus of employees gets worse.

Cox called the press conference after hearing the governor wants to keep department budget increases to 2 percent.

"We felt very strongly we needed to respond to that," Cox said. "This needs to be addressed now and paid for now, or we'll be paying for it later."

The Department of Corrections says it needs an estimated $13 million to boost salaries so it can retain experienced employees. Lawmakers lobbying for increased pay for officers are planning their fight on several battlefronts, including getting some money through the executive appropriations committee.

Cox said it is impossible for the department to keep officers when the Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office is able to pay its jail officers about $5,200 more a year than what the state can offer.

"Who would blame these employees for leaving?"

Cox and others fear a crisis is looming for the prison system and Adult Probation and Parole when the new jail opens eight months from now and hires an additional 250 people.

Right now, the Department of Corrections has 67 positions it has not been able to fill, and the job pool of qualified people to draw from is only going to get worse, Cox said.

Corrections Executive Director Pete Haun said he knows the constraints Leavitt faces, but salary equity has to be addressed.

"My position is we deserve parity," Haun said. "These people do a job nobody else wants to do."

Rep. Dave Hogue, R-Riverton, said the sad shape of corrections officers' salaries has been crafted over the past 10 years by inadequate budget allocations.

"It's time we got off our seats," Hogue said.

It's unfortunate, he added, when many of the men and women who are expected to deal with the state's worst of the worst inmates are struggling to get by on food stamps or working several jobs to survive.

"I hate to say it, but it's true."