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.
Sorry but no, I can't. I have been out of the system for 12 years now and I have zero information on it. I am GUESSING that it is a halfway-house type environment for prisoners who are nearly at their release date or who are in fact out on some form of supervised conditional release, but that is only an educated guess.
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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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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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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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I don't know for sure but my guess is YES, assuming you clear the psych of course. Whether you WILL be called for the December academy is another matter. I don't know how quickly they fill up, what the last-minute no-show rate is or any of that stuff any more. In any event, congrats, premature though that may be
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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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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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