As part of the 1999 NCCHC organization and staffing
survey, prison and jail systems were asked to provide salary ranges for
specific health care positions. They also were asked about their vacancy
and turnover rates for health staff positions and which positions were
the most difficult to recruit for and retain. As with other items
included in this survey, the responses received to specific questions
from the participating prison and jail systems varied tremendously.
Respondents were asked to provide an annual salary range
for each position. Exhibit
A-Prisons and Exhibit
B-Jails 
reflect the midpoint of the ranges for each position. When
data were reported in hourly figures, the salaries were annualized using
a factor of 2,080 hours per year.
Exhibit A
provides the average annual salaries of certain prison health staff
positions. Three of the DOCs using for-profit contractors (in Idaho,
Kansas, and Massachusetts) declined to answer these questions and
information was not available for the Montana DOC. For the 24 prison
systems with usable data, psychiatrists were the highest paid in
virtually every system (ranging from $58,997 to $234,000 with a mean of
$133,564), followed by physicians (ranging from $58,997 to $171,600 with
a mean of $110,403), and dentists (ranging from $55,000 to $120,276 with
a mean of $73,510). On average, physician extenders (ranging from
$35,970 to $78,520 with a mean of $54,963) were paid somewhat better
than Ph.D. psychologists (ranging from $40,726 to $62,472 with a mean of
$52,734) in most DOCs. Health care administrators (ranging from $33,000
to $73,944 with a mean of $57,996) were paid better than pharmacists
(ranging from $40,342 to $60,000 with a mean of $51,572) in most
locales.
It was not surprising, given their lower salaries, that
the least variability was among registered nursing positions. Registered
nurses in the same system working with medical (ranging from $31,000 to
$55,705 with a mean of $41,800) and psychiatric (ranging from $31,000 to
$55,705 with a mean of $42,622) patients usually were paid the same. It
is surprising that RNs generally were paid about the same as master’s-level
psychologists and social workers (ranging from $29,174 to $59,072 with a
mean of $41,846). Consistent with their lower educational requirements,
licensed practical and vocational nurses were paid the least in all
systems (ranging from $21,500 to $37,500 with a mean of $28,733).
These same patterns are apparent in the seven jail
systems reporting (see
Exhibit B), except that general physicians were paid more than
psychiatrists on average. Physician extenders made more than Ph.D.
psychologists, and health care administrators were better paid than
pharmacists. The extent of missing data for the jail systems, though,
makes it difficult to draw any reliable conclusions.
Caution should be exercised in drawing conclusions
regarding the prison systems’ salary data as well. Salaries alone do
not tell the whole story. In a review of the positions that prisons and
jails said they had the most difficulty recruiting for and retaining
(see Exhibit C-Prisons and Exhibit D-Jails
), no
consistent correlation is found between low salaries and empty
positions.
More than half of the prison and jail systems reported
they had the most difficulty in recruiting and retaining nursing staff.
