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| Overtime Pay For State Prison Guards Increased 34 Percent Last Year |
| By progressillinois.com |
| Published: 10/29/2013 |
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The Associated Press has learned that the overtime costs for employees who guard Illinois' prisons increased 34 percent in the 2013 fiscal year, which ended in June. The $62 million in overtime pay state Department of Corrections employees made last year is the highest amount paid out over the previous seven years, according to the AP's analysis. The jump in overtime pay is mainly credited to Gov. Pat Quinn's cost-saving move to shut down some correctional facilities in addition to the state's overcrowded prison system. State officials also noted that overtime costs spiked last fiscal year due to an unsuccessful lawsuit filed by AFSCME looking to halt the closing of facilities such as the Dwight Correctional Center and the Tamms supermax prison in southern Illinois. Due to the lawsuit, the Department of Corrections was not able to have employees impacted by the closings, who had priority over newly-hired workers, take over vacant positions, said corrections spokesman Tom Shaer. But AFSCME pushed back on that notion, arguing that a number of new correctional workers were hired over the course of the union's challenge to the closings. AFSCME spokesman Anders Lindall also told the AP that the union proposed various ways to "give the department added flexibility to reduce the dangers posed and costs incurred by lack of staff in its facilities." Prison officials say overtime pay has since decreased by 22 percent from July through September of this year compared to the previous summer. Shaer said overtime pay could continue to be chipped away by some $17 million this year, as the prisons currently employ a total of 9,792 workers, which is more than the 9,711 employees on staff prior to the shuttering of Dwight and Tamms. Read More. |
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