Gov. Sam Brownback was right to take steps to increase wages for workers at Kansas state prisons. The move should help stabilize prison staffing and reduce dangerous incidents, which have become all too frequent of late.

Brownback announced Thursday that uniformed officers across the state would receive about a 5 percent raise, with officers at El Dorado Correctional Facility getting raises of about 10 percent. The move would boost pay from $13.95 to $14.66 per hour statewide, and to $15.74 per hour at El Dorado, The Associated Press reported.

The higher pay in El Dorado is because of the tighter job market there, state officials said. El Dorado also has been the site of incidents that prompted the pay increase. The Department of Corrections has confirmed that three inmate disturbances occurred at the El Dorado prison in May and June and that there were two inmate-on-inmate stabbings on July 28. The violence is connected to a lack of adequate staff at the maximum-security prison.

Legislators from both sides of the aisle — including Republican Senate President Susan Wagle, Republican Rep. J.R. Claeys and Democratic House Minority Leader Jim Ward — had urged Brownback to take action. Legislators had called for raises up to 20 percent for corrections workers. That could have cost the state $20 million.

Brownback said the state can fund the raises for this fiscal year but lawmakers will have to find funds next session to sustain the pay increases long term.

It should be noted that the union for corrections officers still must approve the raise. The raise would kick in as soon as the union approves.

Robert Choromanski, executive director of the Kansas Organization of State Employees, which represents the corrections officers, was noncommittal, calling the pay increase offer merely a good first step.

“While we are grateful that the governor and state corrections officials have finally recognized that action was needed to address this crisis, we are also keenly aware that further steps will be necessary to really solve the department’s operational problems,” Choromanski said.

Choromanski is right; more does need to be done. But the immediate crisis is recruiting and retaining officers to work now. Raises of 5 to 10 percent should go a long way toward that goal and the union should vote to approve the raises quickly.