Wisconsin Democratic Gov. Tony Evers said Tuesday he would consider rejecting a Republican budget plan that doesn’t significantly increase pay for corrections officers, prosecutors, and public defenders, according to an Associated Press report.
Low pay and long hours have made it difficult for the state to hire new employees across the criminal justice system. More than 33% of correctional officer jobs are unfilled, and the State Bar of Wisconsin warned in January that understaffing in district attorney and public defender offices had become a “crisis situation.”
“Our system is on the brink, so we need to fund it, simple as that,” Evers said at a WisPolitics.com event Tuesday.
Evers unveiled a budget last month that would increase starting pay for correctional officers to $33 an hour and to $35 an hour for assistant district attorneys and public defenders.
Corrections Secretary Kevin Carr, who Evers appointed in 2018, backed the governor’s plan and urged the Republican-controlled committee to consider higher wage increases.
“People don’t have any problems paying law enforcement officers that kind of money,” Carr said. “Corrections doesn’t get that same kind of respect, but they deserve it for the work they do.”
