Bob Walsh
Stockton, CA
Male, 60
I worked for the California state system, starting as a Correctional Officer and retiring as a Lieutenant in 2005. I now write for the PacoVilla blog which is concerned with what could broadly be called The Correctional System.
A significant percentage of inmates are either totally illiterate or functionally illiterate. Possibly as much as 25%, certainly at least half that. Inmates manage to communicate between one another without that much difficulty, mostly verbally or even non-verbal "body language" communication. There is also a significant number of non-English speaking inmates in the system. The phrase "school to prison pipeline" generally refers to people dropping out of school and ending up in prison. There is also a "books not bars" undercurrent, at least in CA, that assumes (incorrectly) that making school more available to people will mean less people in prison. There is MANDATORY k-12 education in California and most other states as far as I know. You have to work REAL HARD to be kicked out of the system. You don't have to work that hard to stay in and at least TRY to get an education. In my experience most people in prison have CHOSEN to be there. They have deliberately adopted a criminal lifestyle for whatever reason. That reason does not, generally speaking, include lack of educational opportunity (IMHO). I admit it is something of a chicken and egg thing, but I believe that the criminal mindset and lifestyle pushes the education problem, not the other way around..
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It has been a LONG WHILE since I was there but the last time I was cadets were free to leave the academy after hours and on weekends. If the classes are large enough some trainees used to be housed off-grounds in motels but that was mostly advanced trainees, like basic supervisors academy and advanced training, not rookie officers.
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In the California system, which is the only one I am truly familiar with, the ability to gain or not gain good time credit is a matter of law.
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What happens next is that someone, usually a Lieutenant, holds a hearing on the administrative charge and determines what, if any, punishment will be applied.
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Generally speaking state correctional officers work in PRISONS, not JAILS, though there are exceptions to this. Generally speaking State correctional officers work for the state, jail officers work for cities or counties. That is certainly true in CA, though there is a bit of spillover in certain re-entry facilities. You are unlikely to be assigned to one of those as a newbie. Good luck. I hope it works for you.
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As an entry level employee they will be much more interested in your general background than in your specific knowledge of the job. It is very likely they have a web site and it is possible they have a new employee orientation packet or even a prison rule book on line. Being familiar with this sort of thing is not necessary, but it certainly doesn't hurt. IN addition being able to speak standard English coherently and write a decent report are both very desirable skills. In some places they want you to write a brief narrative at the interview site, bring it in with you and read it out load to the panel. Good luck.
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They are primarily paper pushers. They prepare board reports, pre-release reports and stuff like that. Their principle attribute must be the ability to think critically and write clearly and concisely. they must have a good understanding of "the system" and how it works.
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