Eight of the 12 adult correctional officers who graduated the state Department of Public Safety’s Basic Corrections Training program Friday have been assigned to Hawaii Island facilities.
Eight of the 12 adult correctional officers who graduated the state Department of Public Safety’s Basic Corrections Training program Friday have been assigned to Hawaii Island facilities.
The new class of adult correctional officers graduated during a ceremony held at the department’s Training and Staff Development building in Honolulu. They will immediately begin their careers as correctional officers in facilities across the state.
Six of the officers have been assigned to Hawaii Community Correction Center and two have been assigned to Kulani Correctional Facility, the state said. Four of the graduates will work at the Oahu Community Correctional Center.
BCT is a 9-week training that includes 360 hours of classroom time and physical training. Recruits learn standard of conduct, professionalism and ethics, report writing, interpersonal communications, maintaining security, crisis intervention, security threat groups, firearms, self-defense tactics, and physical exercise, according to the state. All incoming classes receive Recruit Field Training along with Basic Corrections Training. That means, during the final weeks of training, they go into the facility and begin their job with the guidance of their training sergeants.
“Managing a large prisoner population while providing a safe and secure environment in a prison or jail is a serious job,” says Sergeant Puanani Cummings, BCT sergeant in charge. “These new corrections officers spent many hours in the classroom and in field training. I know they have the ability and the knowledge it takes to be successful in a challenging environment.”