New York has increased prison salaries by $9,000 or more as it struggles to fill a dire staffing gap that ballooned this year with the firing of 2,000 workers who refused to end a strike.

Nearly 11,000 correction officers and sergeants got that hefty pay increase in late May as part of a multi-pronged push to retain them and lure more employees to secure the state's 42 prisons. The state has revved up recruiting, lowered the minimum age for new hires to 18 from 21, and dangled other incentives, including a $3,000 signing bonus for new employees.

Staffing is so low that more than four months after a 22-day statewide prison strike ended on March 10 , New York is still paying around 3,000 National Guard troops to fill empty posts and help keep the prisons running.

The head of the pri

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