RALEIGH, N.C. — When North Carolina officials announced a pilot program designed to speed up correctional officer hiring, they paired the initiative with a proposal that would give state correctional officers a 15% pay raise over the next two years.
Gov. Josh Stein said the state needs to move faster to hire candidates and offer more competitive salaries, noting that North Carolina ranks 49th in the nation for correctional officer starting pay. Department of Adult Correction Secretary Leslie Dismukes added that many employees are working overtime or second jobs just to make ends meet.
We asked Corrections1 readers: Would a 15% pay raise be enough to keep you in corrections? Why or why not?
Their responses show that while many welcome the proposed raise, most say pay alone won’t solve corrections’ staffing and retention challenges.
Raises should include all correctional staff
A common theme among readers was that any raise should extend beyond front-line correctional officers.
Several respondents warned that increasing officer pay without also raising salaries for sergeants, supervisors, managers and support staff could create new retention problems.
“If the pay raise does not extend to corrections pay grades above officers, there will be a large number of supervisors and managers who will look to give up those positions and return to the level of correctional officer,” one reader wrote.
Others echoed that concern, noting that supervisors should not earn the same — or less — than the employees they oversee.
“Correctional officers shouldn’t be making more than the sergeants,” another reader said. “A change is needed.”
Maintenance employees also voiced frustration about being excluded from compensation discussions.
“Maintenance staff are essential employees also and have been called in late at night and on off days,” one 23-year corrections veteran wrote.
Retention challenges go beyond pay
While readers acknowledged that higher wages would help, many said compensation is only part of the equation.
One respondent argued that poor leadership and workplace culture are driving employees away.
“People aren’t leaving because of pay or the inmates,” the reader wrote. “They are leaving due to being treated like nothing more than a post order.”
Another reader pointed to a disciplinary culture that focuses more on mistakes than accomplishments.
“Every once in awhile, tell us we are doing a good job — just no negative,” the reader wrote.
Several respondents said meaningful retention efforts should include better training, career development opportunities and stronger benefits.
“The job has to be more than counting heads and turning keys,” one reader said. “21st century training, guaranteed step raises, 20/50 pensions, full medical, and a switch to dynamic security from the current static paramilitary system.”
The same reader added a simple recommendation: “Ask the officers.”
Inflation continues to erode pay gains
Many readers said a 15% raise would be welcome but questioned whether it would be enough to keep pace with rising costs.
“Over the past two decades there has been 10 years without a raise,” one respondent wrote. “Also, a raise below inflation is not a raise.”
Another reader noted that a 15% increase may not go far enough in a rapidly growing state.
“15% is hardly enough to gap the cost of living in NC,” the reader wrote. “Need more to make it above cost of living.”
Others worried that future increases in health insurance premiums could quickly offset any gains.
Better pay is still a step in the right direction
Despite concerns, many readers said they would support the proposal if it applies to all Department of Adult Correction employees.
“Yes. As long as the 15% is for all DAC employees,” one reader wrote.
Another called the raise “a good start” while emphasizing that supervisors and support staff should be included.
Several respondents said employees have gone years without meaningful raises and deserve compensation that reflects the challenges and risks of the profession.
One jail employee compared corrections pay to local manufacturing jobs.
“In our jail we make much less than a factory job,” the reader wrote. “We don’t get bonuses or recognition. We get exposed to risks to our safety, mental health and emotional well-being.”
Others argued that corrections compensation should more closely align with law enforcement pay and benefits.
“Pay needs to be equal to State Police,” one reader wrote. “There will always be a shortage until you give these officers the same pension as State Police.”
The bottom line
Corrections1 readers largely agree that a 15% pay raise would be a positive step, particularly after years of stagnant wages and rising costs. But many say solving staffing shortages will require more than higher paychecks.
What do you think? Would a 15% pay raise be enough to improve recruitment and retention in your agency? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
Corrections1 readers weigh in:
- Better pay would definitely help. Even as a case manager, with my significant other working as a corrections officer, and with him working as much overtime as possible without pretty much living at work we are still struggling to make ends meet. Corrections staff put their lives on the line every day working with offenders who could pose a significant risk to our safety and well-being. However, we come to work every day because our job is essential to maintain the safety and security of the institution but also the community, in what is often not only a thankless job from the community and residents we serve but also from our administration teams.
- Firing the government money catapult at a perceived problem is rarely a long-term solution, regardless of whatever short-term benefits may happen. Corrections is in a strange phase of transition between the paramilitary polished boots mentality of past generations, to a more modern mindset that can’t quite decide if it wants to be truly rehabilitative or simply woke. Every person in the prison, regardless of if they work there or are incarcerated there, needs to be treated like a person at the end of the day and not like a number on a massive government spreadsheet. But treating a person like a person is something that can only be done organically. When you try to force something like that as a policy, it just comes across as more paperwork and box-checking bureaucracy that makes people not feel like people at all. Many prison administrators still don’t seem to understand that, and state legislators definitely don’t understand it. So load up the money catapult again, because that is what they know best.
- My issue was pay and the 12-hour shifts. Having to stay over working 20-hour shifts or more. Then being told to report for your next shift off of 2 hours of sleep. Not being given opportunities for advancement. Supervisors not discipline prisoners. Why do a discipline report for threats and the supervisor just throws it away. Being disrespected in front of other officers in shift line-up. I lost all respect for corrections. I feel I wasted 10 years of my life.
- 15% would go a long way, but leadership is a big issue as is discipline, or lack there of. In VA your “annual raise” is $100 x the years of service which is absolutely nothing.
- I retired as a correctional superintendent with 30 years of service for North Carolina. North Carolina had never kept up with cost of living raises ever. A 15% increase is a slap in the face! Let’s start at 30% and see how that works. The raise must be guaranteed to all employees not just new officers. The North Carolina Penal System has lost all control of the inmate population. It has been difficult to hire good, qualified applicants at the current pay rate. Therefore, prisons practically hire anyone just to fill a vacancy. Then comes corruption, where staff bring contraband into inmates or worse, engage in sexual relationships. It is time for the Governor to step in and perform a complete overhaul of the whole system and if he can’t or will not, then the federal government should.
- No, appreciation staff and their contributions. Not once a year but daily. Correctional staff always gets the blame when things go wrong. When things go right, it’s upper management that gets the praises, not the line staff whose presence may have influenced a positive outcome. Promoting those who deserve the promotion, not those who are “favorites”. Trust the people doing the job, let them know they’re valued as an employee of DOC.
- If the 15.4% is not for ALL DAC employees the situation will become worse than it is already!
