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Good benefits, good pay-including the opportunity for overtime-clothing and training provided, job security, but most importantly, the satisfaction of doing something for your community, are what someone can expect from working in the county\u2019s prison system. <\/p>\n
\u201cThat rewarding feeling is going to be different for everybody, but it\u2019s the satisfaction of helping and supporting your community,\u201d<\/span> said Ryan C. Barnes, deputy warden of security and operations at the Lycoming County Prison. <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s at times known as a thankless job. You\u2019re behind the walls. You\u2019re behind the bars. Nobody sees you outside doing what we do, so that reward is often not public. It\u2019s more of an internal reward, a feeling of helping your community and helping those that you live around and with,\u201d<\/span> Barnes said. <\/p>\n Right now the county\u2019s prison system has about 14 vacancies that need to be filled, including correctional officer positions, relief officer positions and a full-time Licensed Practical Nurse position. A full complement of correctional officers at the prison is 50.<\/p>\n Since the mission of the prison system is to provide security to the community, operating with lower staff numbers is a problem. <\/p>\n \u201cOur mission is to provide a level of safety and security to the public as well as staff and inmates with the facility. As our staffing levels go down, there is the chance or the opportunity that those levels of security go down,\u201d<\/span> Barnes said. <\/p>\n \u201cStaff are working more overtime. They\u2019re working longer hours. They\u2019re not as fresh in hour 12 or 13 as they were in hour two or three, which could have the ability to impact something negative happening within the prison,\u201d<\/span> he added. <\/p>\n The general duties of a correction officer include monitoring, observing and supervising inmates. <\/p>\n \u201cThose tasks include making security rounds, cell searches, checking for contraband, prevention of contraband, taking inmate counts throughout the day-there are three counts on each shift that they\u2019re responsible for-as well as just interacting with the inmates,\u201d<\/span> Barnes said. <\/p>\n \u201cAgain, making the security rounds, becoming familiar with the inmates that are in the housing unit that you\u2019re responsible for-enforcing the rules of the facility,\u201d<\/span> he added. <\/p>\n The minimum qualification for an entry level position at the prison is a high school diploma.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have hired and interviewed people with further education than that. We will hire people with bachelor\u2019s degrees but it\u2019s not a requirement of the job and experience isn\u2019t necessary,\u201d<\/span> said Warden Brad Shoemaker.\u201cWe do hire people that come from other industries. We\u2019ve hired people from the gas industry, hired people from local businesses, and also people that are just coming in may be trying to further their employment status after getting an education in criminal justice,\u201d<\/span> Shoemaker continued. <\/p>\n He stressed that a criminal justice education is not a requirement. <\/p>\n Those who are hired to work at the prison are trained in-house initially. The first four weeks are all on-the-job training. Then within the first year, all employee corrections officers are sent to the Department of Corrections academies at Elizabethtown for another four weeks of training as required by the state, Shoemaker explained.<\/p>\n Traditionally there has been an unofficial policy that job applicants be 21-years-old, but Barnes noted that they have made exceptions in the past and accepted younger job seekers. <\/p>\n \u201cIt takes the right person to be under 21 and to be able to go and work in that environment at that young age,\u201d<\/span> Barnes said. <\/p>\n \u201cIt can be done, but again, it takes the right person and through the interview process we make the determination if we feel they\u2019re ready to take that step into the field of corrections or not,\u201d<\/span> he added. <\/p>\n The right person for the job would be someone who is a good communicator, because, Barnes said, they have to be able to communicate with fellow staff members, the inmate population and other staff throughout the prison. <\/p>\n \u201cBesides that, a good decision maker. Someone that can make quick decisions at times under stressful situations,\u201d<\/span> Barnes said. <\/p>\n \u201cGood ethics. Good morals. Somebody that\u2019s able to think quickly on their feet, that\u2019s able to spend a good portion of their day on their feet. It\u2019s not sitting down and just observing, there\u2019s a lot of interaction,\u201d<\/span> Shoemaker explained. <\/p>\n He stated that a lot of people make the mistake of thinking the job is like what they see on television. <\/p>\n \u201cThose are entertainment-based. A lot of what happens within the prison is very routine. There\u2019s a schedule. It\u2019s a 24\/7\/365 operation. Every hour of the day, seven days a week is filled with something-there\u2019s something happening in the building,\u201d<\/span> Shoemaker said. <\/p>\n In terms of pay rates, the starting pay for a corrections officer is $18.10 per hour with full county benefits. For the nursing position, the rate is $23 per hour. <\/p>\n One thing that prison officials want potential job applicants to know is that jobs at the prison offer job security. <\/p>\n \u201cThe one thing we tell people is there are some jobs where they\u2019ll work you a lot and then they lay you off. We don\u2019t ever lay anybody off. It\u2019s a unique environment. It\u2019s not meant for everybody, but it\u2019s certainly an environment where a person can gain valuable experience,\u201d<\/span> Shoemaker said. <\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve had people that make a career out of these positions. We\u2019ve had people that use this as their entry level into the criminal justice system and move on to other entities. We\u2019ve had correctional officers that have moved into other jobs with Lycoming County, within the state system, within the federal system, the State Police, the local police departments,\u201d<\/span> he continued. <\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a lot more chances for opportunities,\u201d<\/span> he added. <\/p>\n Jobs within the prison system are posted at Indeed or through CareerLink. There is a link through the county\u2019s website: Lyco.org.<\/p>\n This story was taken from a video posted on the Sun-Gazette YouTube channel, where it can be viewed in its entirety.<\/em><\/p>\n
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