HOUSTON — Certain inmates are still getting paid, but the correctional officers watching over them are not.
That’s the situation at federal detention centers like the one in downtown Houston.
Employees say they’re nearing a breaking point as the shutdown continues.
“The staff here are under an exorbitant amount of stress due to the fact that they’re not getting paid,” said Clifton Buchanan, correctional officer and AFGE regional vice president.
Like TSA screeners at the airport, federal correctional officers are considered essential personnel, so most aren’t being furloughed during the partial government shutdown.
They remain on the job.
“Nobody wants to come on camera and say, 'I can’t afford my bills. I can’t afford to do this or that,'” said correctional officer Rey Osorio.
But things are getting less and less affordable as some 800,000 federal workers face a second missed paycheck.
“I need my paycheck,” said correctional officer Kimberly Boatner.
Boatner is fortunate enough to have some cushion.
“But I shouldn’t have to go into my savings because they’re fighting about a border wall,” Boatner said.
Many others live paycheck to paycheck, like a correctional officer named Carmen who’s raising a daughter with autism and caring for a 90-year-old grandmother.
“It angers me to listen to insensitive remarks about how we should understand and manage our finances better,” Carmen texted. “Life brings different challenges, and no one is exempt from that.”
Carmen sent her concerns to members of Congress, too. But like her colleagues, she awaits a response.
“I’m asking for Congress to make a decision and pay us immediately,” Buchanan said.
Correctional officers say the first of the month may be a tipping point if this political stalemate continues to hold their livelihoods captive.