By Associated Press
Montgomery, AL – Gov. Bob Riley and Corrections Commissioner Richard Allen plan to ask the Alabama Legislature to give a ten percent pay raise to corrections officers. Riley said he believes that higher pay would make it easier for the department to recruit and retain quality corrections officers. Allen estimates the raises would cost 11-to-12 million dollars a year. The starting salary for a corrections officer is 26,000-620 dollars. With the proposed raise, the new starting salary would be 29,000-282 dollars. The department is recruiting officers to work in a prison system that is operating at about twice its intended capacity. The corrections department graduated 44 new officers this month, but those numbers will not be enough to fill the 450 vacancies. In addition to radio ads, the corrections department is also using a variety of job listings and marketing tools such as Web sites, television, fliers, pamphlets and billboards to recruit officers.