Senators Urge BOP to Request Special Pay Rate, Say Hiring Need is Urgent
Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee want the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) to request a special pay rate for certain personnel.
The goal: make salaries more competitive and help fix the agency’s staffing crisis, which is contributing to a rash of incidents in federal prisons including harassment and inmate suicides and a decline in available medical care.
The letter from eight Democrats on the panel to BOP Director Collette Peters recommended that BOP send the special pay rate request to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). It demanded a response by June 18, 2024.
“A special pay rate will provide an additional tool for BOP to immediately address its staffing shortage within its current budget, while Congress works on long-term solutions to this crisis,” wrote the senators.
The special pay rate would apply to “correctional officers, but also to all non-supervisory staff, including nurses, teachers, doctors, and psychologists.”
The senators point out that OPM has authority to set special pay rates, which are higher pay rates for agencies experiencing a “significant handicap in recruiting or retaining employees” due to factors such as undesirability of work conditions or nature of the work, or remoteness of positions.
The senators write that “BOP clearly meets this criteria.”
The call for a special rate was supported by BOP worker groups.
“This pay adjustment is not only warranted but essential to ensuring the safety, security, and effectiveness of our federal correctional institutions,” said Council of Prison Locals (CPL) National President Brandy Moore White.
BOP Director Testimony
In February, BOP Director Peters told senators that the agency cannot compete with the private sector and other law enforcement agencies for staffing. Raising the base salary by $2,000 barely made a dent.
“We have recruitment and retention incentives across the country. We have direct hire authority. The bottom line, as I said in my opening comments, is we need to pay them more,” said Director Peters.
The need for more staff comes after a Department of Justice Office of Inspector General report found that a lack of staff is contributing to unsafe conditions inside federal prisons, leading in some cases to unnecessary inmate deaths.
The letter was signed by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin (D-IL), Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ), Senator Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Senator Chris Coons (D-DE), Senator Alex Padilla (D-CA), Senator Jon Ossoff (D-GA), Senator Peter Welch (D-VT), and Senator LaPhonza Butler (D-CA).