Colorado U.S. Senators Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper applauded a Biden Administration decision to increase pay across the board for employees at the Federal Correctional Complex in Florence, according to a Monday news release.
The administration recently announced that both correctional officers and non-custody staff at FCC Florence would receive a 25% retention bonus, state officials said.
In December, the senators implored the U.S. Office of Personnel Management and the Bureau of Prisons to increase staff pay in an effort to address difficult working conditions at the “supermax” prison, which houses some of the most violent and disruptive inmates in the U.S. penal system.
“This essential Bureau of Prisons (BOP) workforce and their representative union have raised concerns about low pay, forced overtime, and dangerous working conditions that have exacerbated low morale, high attrition, and an inability to recruit and hire sufficient staff,” the senators said in a joint letter to both agencies.
“We request your help in addressing these issues to ensure a safe environment for BOP staff, the surrounding communities, and the inmate population.”
Non-custody staff at FCC Florence – including case managers, counselors, maintenance workers and teachers – received a 10% retention bonus in March 2022, and correctional officers got a 20% bonus in July 2022, which helped fill some vacancies, according to the release.
Still, the prison had nearly 130 job vacancies as of April. The staff shortage has often led to mandatory overtime to keep a minimum of employees on hand at all times, officials said.
“For too long, staff at FCC Florence have faced low pay and forced overtime that made it hard to recruit new workers and led to dangerous conditions at the facility,” Bennet said in a statement on Monday. “By answering our call to increase pay at FCC Florence, the Biden Administration took an important step to ensure a safe environment for BOP staff, the surrounding communities, and the inmate population.”
“Understaffing due to unusually low wages at the only federal supermax facility is absurd,” Hickenlooper said. “Retention bonuses for the case managers, counselors, maintenance, and administrative staff working at FCC Florence rightly compensate Coloradans for the challenging jobs they do and will make the facility a safer and more dignified place—for employees and inmates alike.”
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