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Governor’s prison budget proposal funds raises, targeted hires to address Georgia Department of Corrections staffing shortfall
Summary
The governor’s amended FY25 and FY26 recommendations include pay increases, a phased hiring plan for correctional officers and non-security staff, and centralized recruitment efforts aimed at reducing turnover and improving safety within Georgia state prisons, department officials told a joint appropriations subcommittee.
Commissioner Tyrone Oliver, head of the Georgia Department of Corrections, told the House joint appropriations subcommittee on prisons that the governor’s amended FY25 and FY26 recommendations include targeted salary increases and new hires to reduce a large vacancy gap among correctional staff.
The plan would fund a phased increase in correctional officer (CO) staffing and pay changes the department says are necessary to improve safety and retention. "The near term challenges evolve around two primary areas, staffing for security and non security staff and aligning facility infrastructure with offender security needs," Commissioner Oliver said during the presentation.
Why it matters: Subcommittee members repeatedly linked staffing levels to facility safety and to the ability to deliver services inside prisons. Committee members pressed the department for details about how many current vacancies are funded and how many are unfunded, and they asked whether the proposed hires are realistic given national recruitment challenges.
What the proposal would do: The governor’s recommendations explained by the commissioner include (numbers and schedule presented by the department): - Funding to add 882 CO positions in a phased approach (roughly 110 per quarter) and a separate request to fund additional open slots the department lists as 26,100 total open positions (the presentation said only the 882 are newly funded in the immediate request). - A 4% across‑the‑board salary increase for all correctional officers proposed for FY26 (the department estimated a FY26 cost of about $9.6 million for that increase) and salary schedule adjustments to provide regular career-path promotions. - Nonsecurity staff pay increases, including an 8% raise for behavioral health counselors and 4% raises for educational, chaplain, food-service and maintenance positions, intended to improve recruitment and retention in those roles.
Discussion and concerns: Committee members asked for clarity about how many of the 26,100 open CO positions are currently funded. Commissioner Oliver said the department can provide that breakdown to the subcommittee. Members also questioned whether asking to hire large numbers quickly is realistic; the commissioner replied the 882 positions are the near-term funded hire and that larger fills would be phased over future budgets.
Recruitment and retention measures: The budget request includes funds for a centralized statewide recruitment effort ($2.8 million cited in the presentation) and investments to reduce onboarding delays (background checks and processing) and to modernize training—such as simulator expansions—to improve retention.
What remains unresolved: The department said it will provide specific counts of funded vs. unfunded vacancies and requested parity analyses (for example, how behavioral health counselor pay compares with similar state agencies). Committee chairs asked the department to return with additional detail so lawmakers can judge whether the proposed pace and dollar amounts will close the staffing gap.
Ending note: Members praised the department for bringing forward recommendations early and stressed that any final funding decisions will depend on additional data the department agreed to supply to the subcommittee.
