Three months after Gov. Ron DeSantis allowed 18-year-olds to work as correctional officers in an effort to alleviate worker shortages, prison officials continue to wrangle over how to fix "critically low" staffing levels at state facilities.

Heading into the 2020 legislative session, Florida Department of Corrections officials are asking lawmakers for nearly $90 million to address "exceptionally high turnover rates," which they say exacerbate understaffing at prisons.

The agency wants to put in place a $60 million retention-pay plan for correctional officers and launch a $29 million pilot program that would allow prison guards in approximately one-third of the state's prisons to reduce their 12-hour shifts to eight-hour work days.