PIERRE, S.D.(WNAX)- Governor Kristi Noem last week announced immediate pay raises for most correctional officers.

Their pay will rise from twenty dollars an hour to twenty three fifty, with the potential to go to twenty eight dollars an hour.

Senator Reynold Nesiba of Sioux Falls has been vocal in calling for better pay.

Nesiba says more than pay is involved.

Nesiba says other prison workers also need to see a pay raise.

Prisons across the state have had chronic staff shortages.