By Brendan Kirby and Casey Toner
AL.com
SELMA, Ala. — From 2009 through 2013, Irvin Harris made an average of $49,351 a year in base pay working as a corrections officer at Kilby Correctional Facility – a salary that puts him close to the median household income in Alabama.
Add in his overtime, though, and his pay roughly doubles to $98,550 a year on average – placing him among the highest-paid employees in state government.
Records from the Alabama Department of Finance show that Harris earned the most overtime pay in the Department of Corrections during that five-year period, $245,997. But he is far from alone. Ten employees, in fact, made more in overtime than their base salaries as supervisors struggled to fill shifts amid staffing shortages. Each of the 20 employees with the highest amount of overtime made at least $28,870 in extra pay.
Overtime costs in the prison system swelled the past three years as officials tried to deal with shortages caused by a hiring freeze prompted by budget cuts.
“I think that’s what’s driving the overtime pay scale. And it’s actually cheaper to use overtime than hiring a full-time employee,” said state Sen. Cam Ward, R-Alabaster. “The benefits package is what kills you.”
Full story: Some Alabama corrections officers make more in overtime than regular pay, records show