The Florida Department of Corrections is the third-largest state prison system in our country. It holds approximately 80,000 incarcerated inmates and 145,000 offenders on active community supervision (probation, parole, or conditional release).
The largest state agency in Florida, the department has 143 facilities, including 50 state correctional institutions, seven private facilities, 16 annexes, 33 work camps, four reentry centers, 12 FDC-operated work release centers, 18 private work release centers, two road prisons, one forestry camp, and one basic training camp. Over 80% of FDC’s staff are either certified corrections officers or probation officers. There are more corrections officers employed by the FDC than any other position. But the starting salary is $38,750.14, less than $20 an hour, and raises are hard to come by.
The scarcity in pay is shameful.
Corrections officers are the foundation of the FDC. They are the foot soldiers, the first line of action, and the backbone of the system. These are the people trained and trusted to deal with everything from supervising inmate work squads to resolving medical emergencies. This on top of having to assess dangers, recognize threats, maintain the orderly operations of so many institutions, keep all inmates safe, and prevent inmates from escaping. At first glance, it seems like a job for a superhero.
The sad truth is that there are few superheroes answering the call. More times than not, the average rookie corrections officer is lazy, uneducated regarding the responsibilities of their job, unambitious, and looking for another job.
You may ask how a position that demands so much can be staffed by people doing so little. The answer lies in more than a lack of pay. It’s also about the job requirements. To be a corrections officer, a person need only be 18 years old, have a high school diploma or the equivalent, be able to pass a drug analysis test, and have no criminal record. Are teenagers fresh out of high school ready for this kind of responsibility?
A friend and I have a running joke we repeat every time a fast-food drive-thru worker flubs our order. It is usually someone barely out of high school making minimum wage and looking for a better job. Sound familiar? How could we expect more while the standards of acceptable performance are so low?
This could be funny when talking about someone forgetting what size french fries you ordered. If we are talking about someone who holds the well-being of so many in their hands, it can be tragic. More dangerous than negligent corrections officers — and negligence can be deadly — is the threat of corruption. Some people working in prison are too ambitious. The lack of a decent salary and the constantly increasing cost of living leave some people wanting more. They fall for the temptation of making fast money. Lured into the role of a mule, they bring in contraband to the inmates they are supposed to be policing.
In prison, the prices of routine items are high and only exceeded by the never-ending demand. A pack of cigarettes that costs $4 at a local convenience store sells for $50 to $100 in prison. An officer can legally bring cigarettes into an institution every day. It becomes illegal when an officer gives cigarettes to inmates. The exchange can be as simple as throwing the cigarettes in a specific garbage can. The inmate will facilitate a method to pay the officer away from the prison. This makes the transaction more difficult for authorities to discover. Seems like $500 to $1000 in easy money every week — a hefty supplement for someone earning around $20 an hour.
Just a few cigarettes. Some would say the inmates should be able to smoke anyway and it is no big deal. Look deeper, however, and you can see the problems. An officer is in a compromising position. The same inmates the officer is bringing the cigarettes to can threaten to turn the officer in if the officer refuses to continue bringing cigarettes or more serious, and valuable, contraband.
There are other means corrupt officers can make “dirty” money. Seemingly innocuous actions such as changing inmates’ housing locations, placing inmates in certain job assignments, allowing inmates into unauthorized areas within the prison — all of these appear to be small allowances and can become much more. Moving too many members of the same gang into one dormitory is never a good idea.
Giving an inmate a job as a favor means passing up an inmate who may be better qualified. Allowing inmates into unauthorized areas, such as a dormitory they are not assigned to, usually means allowing them to commit other violations while they are there. More than the results of these small acts of corruption, most people willing to break the rules or laws for profit move on to more serious transgressions. Cellphones that cost $20 in Walmart can sell for $700 inside the fences. An amount of drugs the size of your thumbnail can be bought for $10 on the street and can sell for $100 in prison. It goes on and on.
While it is impossible to eliminate all corruption, I believe offering higher salaries and demanding higher educational requirements, such as a 2-year college degree, will go a long way toward improving overall performance and make prisons safer. A corrections officer workforce of college graduates will have more life experiences to draw on and better critical thinking skills. A corrections officer with more invested (a college degree) and more to lose (a substantial salary and benefits) would be more conscientious and less willing to risk their livelihood for a chance to make some dirty money.
These people work in some of the most dangerous and difficult conditions anyone should ever have to endure. The bottom line is they are charged with some of the most important responsibilities anyone can ever have. They deserve more.
Robert Lefleur is a prison consultant.
