Posted by Tomas Hernandez
on February 21, 2008, 1:53 am, in reply to "Emergency Pay Raises For TDCJ Officers Requested (AP)"
--Previous Message--
:
: AUSTIN — The executive director of the Texas
: Department of Criminal Justice said
: Wednesday he anticipated no need to
: immediately close more areas of prisons or
: adjust inmate populations to address the
: continued shortage of corrections officers.
:
: "We have no planned moves at this
: time," Brad Livingston said.
: "Obviously, we have an ongoing
: process."
:
: A 300-inmate wing of the 1,300-bed Dalhart
: Unit was closed in October because of a
: shortage of guards.
:
: Also in October, prison officials
: transferred 282 high-security inmates from
: the Beto Unit near Palestine to other
: prisons. They were replaced with inmates who
: require the supervision of fewer guards.
:
: At a Texas Board of Criminal Justice meeting
: Wednesday, Livingston said the agency had
: 3,750 officer vacancies, or about 15 percent
: of the force, and that the vacancy rate had
: "worsened slightly."
:
: "There's no single factor or reason for
: the continuing staffing challenge," he
: told the board.
:
: He said a strong Texas economy made other
: jobs more attractive, that the remoteness of
: some prisons combined with high gasoline
: prices made commuting costs high, and that a
: concentration of numerous prisons in some
: areas like Huntsville and Gatesville had
: "saturated the workforce."
:
: "Certainly salary issues come into
: play," he said.
:
: Livingston said recruitment efforts were
: continuing and availability of training
: academy classes were accelerated. He also
: said changes to the career salary ladder had
: been made to attract people with college
: degrees, those with honorable discharges
: from the military and former agency
: employees who might want to return.
:
: "We have a senior executive working
: group continuing to brainstorm to manage
: working through this," he said.
:
: Starting base pay for correctional officers
: in Texas is about $23,000 a year. After
: eight years, it tops out at about $34,000.
:
: An employee union has sent a letter to Gov.
: Rick Perry urging him to ease the shortage
: by approving an emergency 10 percent pay
: raise for corrections officers and urging
: legislative passage next year of another 10
: percent boost.
:
: "If the state fails to deal with it,
: the consequences could be catastrophic — for
: correctional officers and the general
: public," said Brian Olsen, executive
: director of the Correctional Employees
: Countil 7 of the American Federation of
: State, County and Municipal Employees.
:
:
:
:
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