How to Become a Correctional Officer - Assignment Example

The of Michigan offers 15 semester hours of individual es to be a correctional officer. Some other s require more and others requireless. The question here is whether or not the requirements are enough to become a correctional officer or if they are just to get started? Some schools in the state of Michigan offer accelerated courses that take less than 15 semester hours so that an applicant can become a correctional officer. Those applicants that have completed the courses to become correctional officers receive priority placement (Michigan Occupational Information System). This indicates that there are no educational requirements to become an officer but those that have a certificate, degree, or some sort of post high school education can use this education to get a leg up on others without it. Once the initial eligibility is determined the applicant then goes through a screening process that includes physical and mental testing. This is true in Illinois where the Correctional Officer Trainees undergo a basic skills test, a physical test, and an educational achievement assessment (Illinois Department of Corrections). In Texas, they only have to be of age, have no felonies, pass a drug test, etc (Texas Department of Justice). On the surface, it would seem that the college education is more than what is truly needed. Overall, to be a corrections officer you need to be 18 years and older and have no felonies on your record. Most states consider that to be enough to qualify you to become a corrections officer and once you are qualified you undergo training to prepare yourself for the things that you will encounter while working for a facility. Most, if not all, correctional officers do not carry weapons therefore they must undergo some hand to hand combat training to defend themselves from inmates and sometimes other officers. The state facilities usually do not require any education above a high school diploma but the Federal Bureau of Prisons require a Bachelor’s Degree or 3 years of experience (Federal Bureau of Prisons). It seems that we can assume that the bigger the facility, the higher the requirements. It is only natural that a federal prison system would require more education and/or experience than the rest. The degree program stresses more on criminal law and writing reports concisely and effectively. The degree program also includes some communication classes. Communication would be extremely important in this profession. According to a Lieutenant at the Stateville Correctional Center in Joliet, IL (815) 727-3607, ‘you have to know how to talk to the inmates and your fellow officers. We are under so much pressure that one wrong word can lead to a riot’ (Lieutenant). He also indicated that writing the reports so that someone else could understand them was vital, ‘I remember one time we had this young guy fresh out of high school. He seemed as if he would be a good officer until he had to write his reports. He could not spell and his grammar was so horrible that you always read something into his reports that he did not mean. My boss agreed to send him back to school along with a few other seminars…We had to understand that if our reports did not make sense and if we could not back up what we did by writing it down correctly, it could mean our jobs’. The more you learn about the profession the better job you can do at it. This theory would justify the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ requirements to have a degree or experience. On a state level however, the degree is not required and you could actually begin training once your qualifications have been verified. The requirements are dictated by each facility and by various states. The only norm in all of them is the requirement of being at least 18 years of age and not having any prior convictions. Why are not having prior convictions so important? Mainly because the idea is that if you are watching over inmates that have committed a crime and you are trying to show them why what they did was wrong, then you should not have committed any crimes in your past as well. Sometimes people say that those who have committed the crimes would be better able to show others why these crimes were wrong. Others disagree saying that this would be one criminal teaching another how to be a better criminal. This debate is ongoing and is basically settled within each individual state since they may have different requirements among them. The ranking of different facilities, the quality of their officers, etc is so hard to do. 1. There are so many facilities throughout the United States that it would be difficult to include them all. 2. Rankings would be based on information that does not show quality. For example, size of the facility and salaries of the officers might be included but are not relevant to the quality of the facility. 3. Rankings of quality would have to be based on universal criteria that not all facilities would agree on. 4. Information can be falsified or exaggerated if proper auditing had not been completed at the time of the rankings. Other factors would be considered but these are some of the major ones. The state of Nevada also has similar requirements like the rest of the states (Wikipedia) and they also categorize the inmates similar to the other states as well: Maximum - This is the most restrictive custody level in the Department. These inmates may not exit their cells without constant, direct supervision. They have a very high potential for violence, and are generally segregated from one another (Wikipedia). Close - This level is assigned to inmates who require housing in a very secure institution or who require frequent, direct supervision. These are inmates with a high potential for misconduct or escape (Wikipedia). Medium - This is the largest custody category of inmates. This is the custody assigned to inmates who would be an escape risk if they were not inside a secure institution, but who are expected to behave without constant, direct supervision. These are the general population inmates of most of our institutions (Wikipedia). Minimum - This custody is used for inmates who are not considered escape risks when supervised. When they are away from their assigned facility, they must be supervised by a State employee. The facilities they live in do not have gun towers or barrier fences (Wikipedia). Community - This is the least restrictive level, and generally applies to inmates assigned to restitution centers or to State government jobs in Carson City. These inmates are not supervised when they are away from their assigned facility (Wikipedia). It can be safe to assume that the category of inmate would dictate the type of correctional officer that is needed. The Community and Minimum levels would more than likely require adult supervision with no weapons. The Maximum level would possibly require adult supervision with all the weapons they can legally have on the premises. Usually Maximum level inmates are murderers, serial rapists, etc who have nothing to lose and might start a riot among their fellow inmates. Correctional officers are not that much different than the police officers that patrol our streets to help keep us safe. Correctional officers still deal with the bad seeds of the earth except they are confined to smaller spaces than police officers and they might not be able to get away fast enough. This could mean that their lives are in more danger than police officers but then again police officers have to have a gun and correctional officers do not. References Federal Bureau of Prisons. BOP Career Opportunities: Correctional Officer. 24 April 2010. 24 April 2010 . Illinois Department of Corrections. Careers at IDOC. 2010. 23 April 2010 . —. Welcome to the Illinois Department of Corrections. 23 April 2010. 24 April 2010 . Lieutenant. Interview. 22 April 2010. Michigan Occupational Information System. #297 - Corrections Officer. 2002. 23 April 2010 . Texas Department of Justice. Are you ready for a challenging career? Be a correctional officer. 2 March 2010. 23 April 2010 . U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics. Correctional Officers. 22 April 2010. 24 April 2010 . Wikipedia. Nevada Department of Corrections. 17 February 2010. 24 April 2010 . Read More