JEFFERSON CITY, MO. -- What would it take for you to risk your life every day? For some, military members and police officers, it's an honor. For others, it's not so easy.
Correction officers inside the Jefferson City Correctional Center see hardships every day. Earlier this month, an inmate slashed an officer's face and arm with a home-made weapon. According to sources inside JCCC, that officer is recovering at home.
But the incident did more than shed light on the dangers of the job -- it sparked controversy over officer's pay. Many people. from inside the law enforcement world and out, said these correctional officers should be compensated more fairly for the dangers they face every day.
The Missouri General Assembly saw a bill earlier this session that would increase the minimum pay a correctional officer receives. It would become part of state law if approved.
The proposal increased pay for a level one guard to just over $16 per hour. Currently, officers are making less than $13 an hour.
"We are asking for a pay raise to raise corrections officers to 75% of what a trooper 1st class currently makes," Executive Director of Missouri’s Corrections Officers Association Gary Gross said.
The increase would not only help the officers, but their families, like Shelby Koelling, whose husband is a corrections officer.
"He's been there for almost nine years and doesn't even gross $28,000 a year," Koelling said. "We struggle to get by."
Corrections Officer Charles Davis also believes officers should get more money for the job they do.
"It's very hard, espeically if you have a wife and kids, to make ends meet -- to chase the American dream," Davis said.
The controversy has sparked a window into the lives of corrections officers, something Davis feels the public rarely hears about.
"You hear from the Highway Patrol and other law enforcement agencies anytime they wreck their car, but anything that happens within the institution -- it's hear no evil, see no evil," he said. "And for the longest time, correctional employees have been overlooked.
It's a sentiment Gary Gross agreed with completely.
"The general public has no concept of what actually goes on inside of a prison unless they have worked there,” Gross said. “They simply don't know what transpires inside there and the issues that officers deal with within the institutions."
The job for correctional employees is stressful, both physically and mentally.
"It takes a mental toll on you just due to the assaults that happen, the verbal abuse and different things officers take from inmates," Gross said.
Low pay generally means good officers will leave the department for better paying positions.
"It's a stressful job," Gross said. "A lot of people, for what they pay, are not going to do that."
Corrections officers think the public can only benefit from increased pay for those who patrol the halls of the institution.
"The better the pay gets, the better off and more quality our staffing will be," Davis said. "And that will do nothing but enhance the safety of the public at large."
The proposed legislation would tie correctional officers' pay to that of the Missouri Highway Patrol officers.
What do you think? Should correctional employees be paid more for the increased risk they take working with Missouri's criminals? Leave your thoughts in our comment section, or see the discussion on our facebook page.
TV Station Profiles & Public Inspection Files forKRCG