Education and Training

• New Federal correctional officers must undergo 200 hours of formal training within the first year of employment. They also must complete 120 hours of specialized training at the Federal Bureau of Prisons residential training center at Glynco, Georgia within the first 60 days after appointment.

• All states require formal training. The training ranges from 80 hours in North Dakota to 640 hours in Michigan

• Most institutions require that correctional officers be at least 18 to 21 years of age and have a high school diploma or its equivalent. 12 states—California, Connecticut, Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Utah and Vermont—require some college credit.

• According to a survey in the May 2000 issue of Corrections Compendium, the average education of a corrections officer, as reported by state governments, is as follows:

  Education Level of Correction Officers (# of states)

• In the Federal Bureau of Prisons, the percentages go like this:

  	High School		31.5%
  	Trade School		3.6%
  	Some College		31.2%
  	College Degree		33.8%

• Most states use both on-site training and outside academies, but Kansas, Wyoming and North Dakota do all training on site at the prisons and do not use academies.

• Five states—Vermont, New Mexico, New Hampshire, Illinois and Colorado—do all of their formal training at academies.

• All states and local correctional agencies provide on-the-job training at the conclusion of formal instruction.

Sources: US Department of Justice—Bureau of Justice Statistics, Corrections Compendium, Occupational Outlook Handbook