It wasn't just the loss of their unions, the loss of health and safety provisions in their contracts, or the loss of any voice in the workplace. Corrections officers, like public employees everywhere in the state, lost 18% of their pay in deductions for their benefits; benefits that they wanted to keep so much that they, like other public employees, had been systematically giving up wage increases for years.
While exempting police, sheriffs, and firefighters (whose unions had endorsed Walker for Governor) from the brutality of Walkers union busting and wage-draining Act 10 due to "public safety" concerns, Walker didn't exempt correctional staff or prison guards whose unions endorsed Walkers opponent.
As a result, many guards who were eligible to retire did so to avoid the 18% deduction from their paychecks or to work in unsafe conditions because the union contract and safety measures which had been negotiated no longer existed.
Others left and found jobs elsewhere. The number of guards dramatically decreased creating staffing shortages which have been filled by officers working longer shifts and overtime (much of that being mandatory overtime where they are forced to stay on the job or called in from home).
"I myself have been getting ordered for extra duty more than the double cheeseburger on the extra value menu at McDonald's," Redgranite officer Paul Mertz said by email. And now those shortages have become so acute at one facility that the state is now paying mileage and 6 weeks or months of hotel costs for guards that agree to work there on a temporary basis. Those temporary assignments will also exacerbate the staffing shortages at the prisons that the guards normally work.