By C1 Staff
LANSING — After reopening its correctional officer training academy, the Michigan Department of Corrections has exceeded its goal for the first batch of new officers.
The Lansing State Journal reports that 300 recruits will be trained to police state prisons starting March 30 at the Michigan State Police Academy. Fifty more recruits will be trained beginning March 16 at the closed Hiawatha Correctional Facility in the eastern Upper Peninsula.
The DOC had hoped to bring in 300 recruits between the two academies.
About 18 months ago, the state farmed training out to community colleges in hopes of cutting costs. Recruits were asked to pay half the roughly $4,000 tuition costs and were offered jobs only at the end of training.
Last month the DOC announced it would be returning to its centralized training model, where recruits are hired right away and tuition is fully funded by the department, after conceding the colleges weren’t turning out enough recruits.
The huge turnout is good news for the department as it works to fill a stark shortage of correctional officers.
Courses run eight weeks long and recruits are reimbursed 39 cents per mile to either return home or for a hotel room, in order to keep them in the area.
The total cost to train the 350 recruits is $8.4 million.