By Marcia Moore
The Daily Item, Sunbury, Pa.
ALLENWOOD, Pa. — Corrections officers at the Allenwood prison complex say the federal government’s pay scale is unfair and putting them at risk on the job.
American Federation of Government Employees Council of Prisons Locals representatives at the three Allenwood prison facilities said the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) offers varying pay scales at different prison facilities.
Corrections officers earn 20 percent more at U.S. Penitentiary (USP) Canaan and nearly 12 percent more at Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) Schuylkill despite Allenwood employees having 13 separate missions within its three facilities that house about 2,700 inmates in high-, medium- and low-security prisons.
“We’re doing the same job and have more missions, and getting paid less,” Keith O’Neal, president of Local 307, said.
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Due to the pay discrepancy among federal prisons, as well as in the state prison system and state police, recruitment and retention of staff at Allenwood is increasingly difficult, he said.
USP Canaan is staffed at 95 percent while Allenwood’s staffing level is at 71 percent which impacts the safety of its officers and requires many to work double shifts, said Corey Landis, treasurer at Local 307.
“Front line workers are being put in jeopardy,” Feliciano Dosman, president of LSCI (low-security correctional institution) Allenwood Local 306, said.
Several U.S. senators sent a letter in late May to BOP Director Colette Peters urging her to request a special pay rate for critical employees to address “severe staffing shortages” posing a safety issue for employees and inmates. In the letter, the senators refer to a National Council of Prison Locals claim that the BOP has lost 9,000 staff positions since 2016.
“This is a bureaucratic quagmire,” O’Neal said, adding that the problem stems from Washington, not with the local or regional administration.
U.S. Sen. Bob Casey and Rep. Matt Cartwright introduced a bill in February to ensure fair pay for federal prison workers, particularly in rural areas.
If passed, employees at the Allenwood facilities would receive a 36.1 percent pay adjustment.
A recent study analyzed data on the number of COs and the number of prisoners in each state. Watch the video below to see which states have the most understaffed prisons.
“Difficult working conditions and pay disparities at Allenwood and other (federal) facilities in Pennsylvania make a tough job even harder and more dangerous for BOP workers. That’s why I am working to pass my Pay Our Correctional Officers Fairly Act to give these hardworking officers the fair pay they deserve, particularly in rural areas like the Susquehanna Valley,” Casey said.
U.S. Sen. John Fetterman has also been in contact with union leaders at Allenwood about the issue, O’Neal said.
“The men and women who do the hard and dangerous work of keeping our prisons running safely deserve to be paid better,” Fetterman said. “It’s not just flat out wrong, but it also poses challenges in recruiting and retaining employees. In D.C., I’ve been fighting so that these workers who’ve been underpaid for decades get what they deserve.”
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