Section 17 of Chapter 37 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2016 Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting the following:-

The Corrections Officers working in the fourteen (14) Sheriffs’ Offices throughout the Commonwealth of Massachusetts shall be paid according to the same pay scale and rates as Corrections Officers employed by the Massachusetts Department of Corrections.

“Corrections Officer” for the purposes of this legislation shall be defined as: “Corrections Officer” of a County Correctional Facility shall mean security officer of a Sheriff’s Office who is either responsible for the direct care and custody of inmates, detainees, or patients as well as those security personnel who either supervise or train those security officers.

The compensation adjustment for pay parity should be structured in such a way that the Sheriffs’ Corrections Officers receive the same rate of pay three (3) years after the passage of this legislation by the General Court and its enactment by the Governor.

Incremental payments shall be made annually over the course of three (3) successive years until full pay is achieved with the officers of the Massachusetts Department of Corrections.”