2019 Code of Alabama
Title 14 - Criminal Correctional and Detention Facilities.
Chapter 1 - Board and Department of Corrections.
Section 14-1-20 - (Expires December 31, 2020) Hiring and retention of correctional officers.

(a) The Alabama Department of Corrections shall have the authority to establish a pilot program designed to increase correctional officer hiring and retention by offering bonuses or educational incentives, or a combination of both, to correctional officers for remaining employed by the department for consecutive terms of employment.

(b)(1) It is the intent of this section to authorize the department to grant a one-time bonus to employees in the correctional officer trainee classification upon successful completion of the Alabama Department of Corrections Training Academy.

(2) The department may also grant an annual bonus to employees of the department who are in the correctional officer trainee classification or the correctional officer classification, have less than six years of service, and successfully complete one year of employment with the department.

(3) In no event shall the total bonus payments under the program total more than three thousand five hundred dollars ($3,500) per person.

(c) Unless otherwise authorized by an act of the Legislature, the program established under this section shall expire on December 31, 2020.

(d) No bonus payments received by an employee of the Department of Corrections under this section shall be used in the computation of retirement or other benefits.

(e) Prior to the implementation of a pilot program, the proposed plan of the Department of Corrections shall be reviewed and approved by the Joint Legislative Prison Oversight Committee for conformity with the recommendations of Warren Averett related to recruitment and retention pursuant to the Phase 2A Understaffing Remedial Order of the federal court in the case of Braggs v. Dunn, Civil Action No. 2:14cv601-MHT.

(f) The department shall report annually on the first legislative day of the Regular Session of the Legislature to the Chairs of the House Ways and Means, General Fund Committee, the Senate Committee on Finance and Taxation-General Fund, and the Joint Legislative Prison Oversight Committee on the number and amount of bonuses paid under the program.

(g) It is not the intention of this section to make appropriations, but the program established by the department is subject to the appropriations made for the department in the annual budget act.