Michigan Department of Corrections photo Baraga Correctional Facility is facing a 32 percent corrections officer vacancy rate according to Michgian Corrections Organization President Byron Osborn due to struggles with officer retention. A pay increase of three percent for officers was passed in the recent state budget, though Osborn and state representatives both believe a pension is needed for officer retention.

LANSING — One of the items included in the recently passed Michigan state budget was a pay increase of three percent for corrections officers within the Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC). The increase in wages was made in an effort to address the problem with retention of corrections officers in understaffed prisons. Michigan Corrections Organization union (MCO) President Byron Osborn said five of six prisons in the U.P. are understaffed, with Baraga Correctional Facility having an officer vacancy rate of 32 percent. The shortage of officers, he said, leads to mandatory 16-hour shifts which effects officers’ time for rest. When officers are tired, they cannot perform duties efficiently which can lead to dangerous situations within the prison.

“We appreciate the raises, no question about it, but at the end of the day these small raises alone over the past few years haven’t had the needed impact on staffing,” Osborn said.

One of the things MCO sees as a way to retain officers is the return of a pension. However the House bills which address this issue, HB 4665, HB4666 and HB 4667 were passed by both the House and Senate in December 2024 but have not been sent to Governor Gretchen Whitmer. The Senate filed a lawsuit against the House in February due to Speaker of the House Matt Hall not presenting the bills to the governor.

“Adequate retention measures have not been implemented to date, and our state legislators in Lansing are to blame,” Osborn said. “Specifically, we hold Governor Whitmer, Speaker of the House Matt Hall, and former Speaker of the House Joe Tate responsible for the debacle with the pension bills that are now held up in a court battle due to dirty politics. Until those types of measures are implemented, we do not believe that the small pay increases that were recently given will have a long-term impact on retention.”

The pay increase was acknowledged by State Rep. Karl Bohnak (R-Deerton) releasing a video on social media Monday in front of the Marquette Branch Prison sign sharing his thoughts.

“The corrections officers union successfully negotiated a pay raise for their membership, and I was honored to vote for that raise as part of the state budget that was passed earlier this month,” Bohnak said. “While there’s still work to do, I hope that this is a positive step in improving staffing levels as well as morale to make this grueling job a bit easier to handle.”

State Rep. Greg Markkanen (R-Hancock) told the Daily Mining Gazette in his opinion the wage increase will be a nice incentive, but a better incentive would be to get a pension plan in place for corrections officers so officers have something to fall back on once they’re done working in the field.

“And this has been a very contentious issue, and I understand that,” Markkanen said. “I think there’s a lot of misunderstanding that these bills that didn’t get moved to the governor last term, that we had some control over that. And we didn’t have any control over that. Even though the Senate sued us and took us to court, we did not have any control over that legislation. The other side of the aisle should have brought that to the governor, and they didn’t. So I think we still have to continue to work and get together and find a solution for this, for a retirement plan for the corrections officers.”

Markkanen emphasized his support for corrections officers, saying he toured Baraga Correctional Facility and walked the picket line outside the prison in August 2024.