LINCOLN — The Ricketts administration announced generous raises for state corrections officers and other state security workers to address the growing staffing crisis at state prisons and institutions that house the mentally ill and developmentally disabled.

Assuming the union approves the agreement, starting wages for corrections corporals and prison caseworkers will rise from $20 an hour to $28 an hour. Sergeants will get a bump from $24 an hour to $32 an hour.

The deal, reached with the union that represents such security workers, also includes an increase in overtime pay, from 1½ times regular pay to 2 times. There also are new incentives for members of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 88 to recruit new employees and cut into the high turnover rates — which have exceeded 30% — in such positions.

“It’s a new day,” said Gary Young, a Lincoln attorney who is the chief negotiator for the FOP.

State Corrections Director Scott Frakes said in a statement that the agreement reflected the state’s efforts to attract and retain critically important employees.

“My staff works long hours with some of the most dangerous people alive, and they deserve to pay that recognizes how important their work is for public safety,” Frakes said.

After the increases, Young said, the starting pay for state corrections security staff will be higher than that paid at county jails, most local police departments, and the Nebraska State Patrol. The FOP has long complained that the state loses too many employees to jails in Douglas, Sarpy, and Lancaster Counties with better pay.

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