Probation officers face challenges
Gov. John Bel Edwards and Louisiana legislators are being praised for their support and passage of bills at the 2017 session aimed at reforming the state’s criminal justice system. That is good and welcome news, but probation and parole officers are facing increased workloads as the prison population is reduced by 10 percent over the next decade.
Those workloads are already higher than they should be because of low pay and high turnover in the state Department of Corrections. The turnover rate for first-year officers was 42 percent last year, and for every officer that leaves 150 to 200 cases have to be distributed to other officers, according to a news report in The Advocate.
The starting pay for those officers is only $30,056 annually. It hasn’t changed since 2007. Their counterparts in Texas begin making $39,700 in Texas and around $36,200 in Mississippi.
One supervisor in the state corrections department said at a recent hearing, “You don’t become a probation and parole officer to get rich, but you used to be able to pay your bills.”
United Ways of Louisiana earlier this year said a family of four in Louisiana needs at least $46,240 annually to cover the most basic costs of living. The Advocate interviewed one probation and parole officer who is only making $45,000 after 15 years on the job.
Some progress was made at the session when the governor included funds in the state budget that gave state classified workers a 2 percent pay raise. Edwards insisted on the funding in the face of resistance from some House leaders. About half of the officers will get an additional pay boost in January that averages $3,362 annually. The entry level will rise to $34,632.
Heavy workloads are part of the turnover problem, but better paying state jobs elsewhere are also a factor. The starting pay for officers in the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries is $46,612.
An officer who is a single mother told the newspaper she would like to stick with her job through retirement, but finances will play a heavy hand in that decision. We hope she is right when she says things might improve now that legislators have a better understanding of the work they do.