Workers in Tennessee’s prisons and jails are getting a raise, Gov. Bill Lee announced Wednesday, Dec. 15.

Lee bumped up the starting annual salary to $44,500, a 37% increase, according to a statement provided by a spokesperson. All current correctional officers will receive at least a 15% raise. The changes take effect Dec. 16.

The decision follows requests by many of Lee’s cabinet officials, who said the state needed to pay workers more in order to compete in the labor market.

State doesn’t pay enough to compete for workers, department leaders say

Tony Parker, who retired recently after nearly four decades at the Tennessee Department of Correction (TDOC), was one of them. Parker told Lee, Finance Commissioner Butch Eley and state COO Brandon Gibson that he was forced to make corrections officers work overtime because of the department’s highest-ever vacancy rate.

“These people are missing ball games, kids’ ball games,” Parker said last month. “They can’t go home at the end of their shift, they’re working on their days off because we have mandatory posts that we’re struggling to fill.”

Before the increase, state corrections officers’ starting salary was just over $32,500. That’s among the lowest in the country and far less than what the Federal Bureau of Prisons, as well as many county sheriffs’ offices.

Parker also requested higher pay for prison educators, but the statement does not say if Lee granted that request. A spokesperson did not immediately respond to an email asking if workers in other departments would get raises as well.

“As we face staffing shortages across the country, rewarding officers with competitive pay will ensure we recruit and retain the most highly qualified individuals in our workforce,” Lee said in the press release.

Interim Correction Commissioner Lisa Helton echoed that sentiment in the same statement.

“This salary increase makes our agency more competitive in attracting new talent and is a well-deserved raise for those currently serving our state,” Helton said.

The budget process for fiscal year 2023 began last month, with department heads asking Lee for funding increases. Due in part to conservative budget estimates, the state saw much higher growth than anticipated, meaning Lee has more money to spend.

The heads of a wide range of departments sang the same tune - they couldn’t fill jobs because they couldn’t pay workers enough in the current labor market.

The working age population is decreasing and many people are quitting, Workforce Development Commissioner Jeff McCord said.

“We’ve got to be honest with the problem,” McCord said in November.

Health Commissioner Lisa Piercey and Mental Health Commissioner Marie Williams, for example, asked for higher pay for dentists and mental health care workers. Brad Turner, who leads the Department of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, asked for funding for workforce development and raises for home health aides.

Education Commissioner Penny Schwinn asked for a boost to the Basic Education Formula, although her request for higher teacher pay was not as forceful.

“People leave this organization because they cannot support a family on what we can offer,” one mental health worker at a state-funded company wrote in a letter that Williams read to Lee.

“People can make more at McDonalds than they can being a transporter, a receptionist or an office coordinator,” the worker wrote. “People can work in a factory without a degree and make more than a therapist or a case manager.”