A group of Senate Democrats have urged the federal prison system to request pay raises for correctional officers and others to address a staffing crisis within the system, a problem a watchdog report linked to the deaths of inmates.
Senate Judiciary Chair Richard J. Durbin of Illinois and seven other members of the panel sent a letter last week that recommended the federal Bureau of Prisons send a “special pay rate request” to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management.
“A special pay rate will provide an additional tool for BOP to immediately address its staffing shortage within its current budget, while Congress works on long-term solutions to this crisis,” the Democratic senators wrote.
