MONTGOMERY — Correctional officers in Alabama will be receiving a sizable salary increase, according to an announcement from Alabama Department of Corrections.

The increase is part of the department’s recruiting and retention efforts. In a Feb. 22 budget presentation to lawmakers, ADOC Commissioner John Hamm indicated 688, or 28%, paid security staff slots were vacant; Hamm said the agency had 264, or 18%, of paid support staff openings.

The staffing shortages are amid a December 2020 lawsuit from the U.S. Department of Justice after a multi-year investigation alleging that Alabama’s prisons for men violate the Constitution as they fail to “provide adequate protection from prisoner-on-prisoner violence and prisoner-on-prisoner sexual abuse, fails to provide safe and sanitary conditions, and subjects prisoners to excessive force at the hands of prison staff.”

Limestone County and St. Clair Correctional Facilities are among ADOC’s close (maximum) security facilities and have the highest number of inmate-on-inmate and inmate-on-staff assaults among all correctional facilities statewide last year, according to a December 2022 ADOC report.

The department’s March 7 salary increase announcement states that starting salaries for correctional officer trainees will increase to: $55,855 at maximum security facilities; $53,245 at medium security facilities; and $50,7012 at work release/community work center.

Prior to the announcement, the current COT salary was about $33,000. The starting pay increased after six months, and after approximately seven months, COT were promoted to correctional officers where the starting salary is approximately $37,000, according to the department’s July 2019 “Guide for New Compensation Plan.” Fourteen months from hire, the pay raised to $40,285 and they would also be eligible for up to $7,500 in bonuses.

The recently announced salary boost to Alabama correctional officers puts salaries well beyond neighboring states.

In Georgia, the minimum salary for a correctional officer at a minimum security prison after a year is about $39,000. At a close security facility after a year, correctional officers can make more than $43,000. Currently a $2,000 per year cost-of-living increase is proposed for the upcoming budget.

As of Dec. 16, 2021, entry-level correctional officers in Tennessee make $44,520 per year, with an automatic promotion to correctional officer 2 and a salary increase to $46,752 per year after a one-year probationary period. Mississippi is among the lowest pay in the country for correctional officers, at approximately $36,000.

ADOC also announced new pay grades for current correctional officers for additional steps for pay progression and said the expansion of location differentials for medium and maximum-security facilities now includes support staff in addition to correctional officers.

“While I am proud of our success so far, they represent the beginning of an ambitious agenda,” Hamm stated. “Some of the projects we have prioritized, but are not limited to, are building new prison facilities, implementing a modern inmate management system, streamlining the correctional officer hiring, retention, and training processes; and actively supporting the reinstatement of Tier I retirement benefits for all employees.”

ADOC representatives declined an interview request — a customary practice of the agency — regarding the impact the salary increase could have on local facilities, including those in north and central Alabama.