The Real Cost of Prisons Weblog

FLORENCE -

Pinal County is looking both to lure trained prison guards away from the state Department of Corrections and to entice people to make detention work their new career. The reason is simple: The county needs $16 million a year to pay for building and staffing its new jail, but to make the money it first needs the staff.

Certainly the more than 700 inmates in the current 472-bed Pinal County detention center would prefer the elbow room and modern facilities of the three-story, $42 million, 1,054-bed edifice rising to the east. But before anyone moves in, jail commander Terry Altman must find more than a few good men and women. To be precise, right now he needs 83 of them, and by the middle of next year he'll need 189 more.

As of three weeks ago, the Pinal County Board of Supervisors gave the go-ahead to begin hiring and training the first set of detention officers and support staff for the jail.

Although debt service on the loan paying for the jail is $5 million, that's still easier to swallow than the $11 million annual cost of staffing and running it. Altman had expected the hiring to begin in July, but supervisors decided to push that date back, closer to the time the building will be ready physically to start housing detainees from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, whose rent payments are expected to bring $15 million to $16 million a year once the jail is up to speed.

Before Altman can open the first wing of the jail and welcome the lucrative ICE detainees, he needs 66 new DOs, 12 detention aides, one polygraph technician, one criminal investigator, one noncriminal or background investigator and two administrative clerks.

On Nov. 16, Altman and Sheriff Chris Vasquez held a press conference to explain the advantages of working for Pinal County instead of another detention authority.

Show me the money

The first reason, sensibly enough, is pay. According to a human resources spokesman for the Arizona Department of Corrections, officers in training get an annual wage equal to $26,364 and, after graduating from the Correction Officers Training Academy, that rate goes up by $1,000. Over five years that rate rises to "about $31,000." Those commuting long distance receive an extra 10 percent, or $100 per paycheck, to help with travel.

The Pinal County Sheriff's Office, on the other hand, starts a newly hired officer without training at $32,302.

"Their salary is the same during training," Altman said. "We don't have a cadet salary."

For those concerned with making more money from the get-go, the numbers compare pretty well even with the county's covey of private prisons. Corrections Corporation of America, which has several facilities in Florence and Eloy, pays newly hired DOs $12.72 per hour, just over $26,000 for full-time work. Once they pass a stringent background test, which can take up to six months, they qualify to work with federal detainees at $19.77 per hour, about $41,000 annually.

For the county the rate of pay increase after first hire is more gradual than in both state and private work, though DOs still end up making more than they would for the state; a county DO with five years' experience makes $33,944 today.

Altman said experience gained at other jails or prisons is counted when figuring the starting pay scale for the Sheriff's Office. Also, the county participates in the state's correction officers retirement program. State workers who transfer to the county can keep their years accrued toward retirement, with the hope of retiring at a higher wage.

"We also offer a significant benefit package," Altman said. "That is, the county has a base employee payment of $5,200 annually that the employee can use to select which benefits they wish to purchase for their family. They can tailor it to their own needs - medical, dental, vision - and use it to offset personal cost."

The county also offers a flexible spending program where $2,600 can be set aside before taxes and used to cover co-pays, deductibles and other medical expenses. A new law allows that money to be used until March 31 of the following calendar year instead of having to be forfeited if not spent by Dec. 3. For county workers who already have insurance coverage through a spouse and elect not to buy their own coverage, the county provides the $2,600 for the flexible spending program.

Last of all, there are 10 paid holidays, 10 vacation days for new hires (and more with longevity), 30-day sabbaticals provided after 15 years, plus 13 days of sick leave.

Not such a pain

For those who may have tried to hire on with the county before and been put off by the eight to 12 months waiting for paperwork to pass through the county's bureaucratic digestive tract, Altman said the process has been speeded up.

"Now we believe the maximum wait will be 120 days," Altman said. "We are processing people partially through the application process, and if they clear specific hurdles such as drug analysis, background and medical checks, we will bring them on board with a conditional employment offer - based on if they don't fail anything else on the background check.

"But who better to know their background than the individual, if they're willing to accept conditional employment knowing they will be terminated if we find something in there. They can say wait and see, or they can say, I know my background is clean, and then we can bring them on board sooner."

The basic qualifications to be a DO are being 21 or older, being drug free, having an Arizona driver's license, passing a written exam and having a high school diploma or equivalent. For those 19 or 20, there is also the option of being a "detention aide," a person who sits in an observation booth and communicates with guards and inmates through an intercom.

"They start with a $24,211 per-year salary," Altman said. "The aide doesn't have direct physical contact with inmate populations. They are an extra set of eyes for officers on the floor."

Altman said this is a good way for a recent high school graduate to learn about detention work and decide if he or she wants to go on to be a regular officer.

Altman said job applications are only taken online, at www.pinaljobs.com, but he also hopes people will come down to see the new jail. He invites calls to his secretary at 868-8250 to schedule a walk-through, as well as to chat about the advantages of working for Pinal County.

Sheriff Vasquez added his own invitation:

"This is an exciting time. I firmly believe new hires will find the Pinal County Sheriff's Office is the No. 1 law enforcement agency in Arizona, and a great place to work."

To learn more about working as a detention officer for the Pinal County Sheriff's Office, call the recruiting line at 868-8250.

©Casa Grande Valley Newspapers Inc. 2005