Bipartisan legislation making its way through Congress would provide a one-time pay adjustment for federal correctional officers and staff as well as help address the severe staffing crisis hitting the U.S. Bureau of Prisons (BOP).
The Federal Correctional Officer Paycheck Protection Act, introduced in mid-January, has the support of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) and its Council of Prison Locals. The proposed bill would establish a 35% increase in base pay for eligible BOP correctional staff, according to an AFGE news release.
The bill is sponsored by U.S. Rep. Daniel Goldman, D-New York. Read the full bill here.
U.S. Rep Eric Sorensen, D-Moline, recently announced his support for the proposed legislation that would improve safety inside federal prisons, including those in Illinois.
Among the facilities whose staff would be impacted is the Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) at Thomson, located in Carroll County (northeast of the Quad Cities).
“Federal correctional officers do one of the toughest jobs in public service, and they deserve pay that reflects the risks they take and the responsibilities they carry,” Mr. Sorensen said in a Thursday, Feb. 12, release. “This bill supports the officers who keep our communities safe while strengthening staffing and safety inside our federal prisons.”
Supporters say the increase is not a pay raise but rather a long-overdue correction to a decades-old disparity in federal law enforcement compensation.
The bill comes shortly after BOP correctional officers received a 3.8% federal pay raise as part of President Donald Trump’s orders for a larger 2026 pay increase for certain law enforcement personnel.
Losing ‘good people’
While it “appreciates” the 3.8% raise for law enforcement, including BOP correctional officers, the AFGE said “the one-time pay bump simply isn’t enough to make up for decades of pay disparity.”
Jon Zumkehr, president of AFGE 4070 at Thomson prison, said “Retention isn’t just about keeping staff – it’s about valuing the people who show up, day after day, to do the hard work that keeps our institution running.”
On its website, AFGE said “While other federal law enforcement agencies have received modern pay structures, career ladders, and premium pay, the pay system for BOP employees has not been meaningfully updated since the 1970s.”
In Mr. Sorensen’s release, Mr. Zumkehr was quoted as saying “We’re losing our people to other agencies simply because of pay, and that gap makes it harder every year to keep good people in these jobs. This bill is needed to retain the staff at Thomson and around the Federal Bureau of Prisons.”
In fact, Local 4070 has been working from other directions to address other troubling issues facing its workforce, AFGE said. Last fall, it partnered with The Gray Matters Collective to raise awareness of the growing crisis of officer suicide. At the time, union leaders said that correctional officers faced a suicide rate seven times higher than the general population.
Through the partnership, Local 4070 donated $4,000 to the Quad Cities-based Gray Matters Collective. The mental health awareness and suicide prevention group was founded in 2018 by Haley DeGreve while she was an Augustana College student.
Thomson prison is a low-security federal correctional institution with 2,069 prisoners, according to the prison bureau.
Lowest paid law officers
According to the national AFGE’s web story, BOP officers work unarmed and come in constant contact with violent offenders including inmates in gangs and organized crime. “Officers frequently work posts alone, without adequate staffing or immediate backup. Despite the conditions, BOP officers remain the lowest-paid federal law enforcement employees,” it wrote.
In addition, the BOP’s severe staffing crisis is being fueled by chronic underfunding, an outdated pay system, and accelerating retirements
“This reform is critical. It will align BOP compensation with federal law enforcement standards, stem the loss of experienced officers, and attract qualified applicants in an increasingly competitive hiring market,” AFGE Council of Prison Locals National President Brandy Moore White said.
As of early January, the AFGE represents more than 820,000 federal and D.C. government employees.
The AFGE also urged the public to write their legislators to support the Federal Correctional Officer Paycheck Protection Act. The corrections officer paycheck bill has been referred to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
