(Waupun) The state’s prison system is set to get an influx of workers. Over 200 correctional officers will soon begin work at Wisconsin Department of Corrections facilities statewide as efforts to recruit and train security staff gain momentum.
Officials with the DOC say they continue to see record-setting numbers of officers graduate from its six-week training academy known as the Facility Staff Training and Support Program. The 214 graduates were celebrated at a graduation event held recently at Madison College.
The new staff will further decrease the DOC’s vacancy rate among correctional officers and sergeants, which was as high as 35-percent this past August. Currently, the vacancy rate is 26-percent, which does not account for the incoming recruits.
The latest class will add staff to facilities with the highest vacancy rates including nine at Waupun Correctional and at Fox Lake Correctional. Waupun Correctional, which currently has a vacancy rate of 55-percent, continues to receive 33 officers from other facilities through the Supplemental Staffing Plan.
