Can recruiting high school students help solve corrections staffing shortages? That’s the question behind the Oregon Department of Corrections’ new cadet program, which introduces high school students to careers in corrections through hands-on training and career exploration. When Corrections1 shared the story on Facebook, dozens of readers weighed in, with many questioning whether recruiting younger employees addresses the root causes of chronic staffing shortages.
While a handful of commenters supported exposing students to the profession early, most argued recruitment isn’t the biggest challenge. Instead, they pointed to low pay, poor retirement benefits, lack of respect for the profession and high turnover as the issues agencies should address first.
Is recruitment the answer?
One of the strongest themes among commenters was that agencies continue searching for new recruits instead of fixing the reasons experienced officers leave.
“They’ll try anything except paying well and treating staff with respect.”
“Anything but more pay and a retirement.”
“Can giving us a retirement worth working for fix the problem?”
Others argued agencies should focus on retaining veteran staff rather than bringing in younger employees.
“Filling positions with warm bodies/kiddos, doesn’t help the turnover or the safety of the facility. The mental and physical stresses that come with working in corrections is hard to maintain and regulate even as a fully developed adult. Turnover is going to continue, if not more rapidly, if you are filling your facilities with young adults with very little life experience and training. Pay people more and build from within to fix the problems/people that run good staff out.”
Many readers also predicted that hiring younger employees would simply increase turnover.
“The turnover rate will be worse. So essentially you’ll just be wasting money.”
“Won’t work. Because they will find out how bad it is and leave.”
Many questioned whether 18-year-olds are ready for corrections
Although Oregon’s program focuses on career exploration rather than immediate hiring, many commenters interpreted the discussion through the lens of agencies that already hire 18-year-old correctional officers.
Several readers argued corrections requires maturity that many recent high school graduates simply haven’t developed.
“No! No! No! At 18 years old, these high school grads are just learning about adult choices ... prison corrections officer is not a learning job to the naive.”
“Never. Corrections should be 25+.”
One reader who said they had worked alongside younger officers described mixed experiences.
“It was 18 when I worked in N.M. The young ones straight out of school were immature, no work ethic and escalated every situation. Admin looked the other way because they needed the bodies.”
Others worried that younger staff could be vulnerable to inmate manipulation.
“Absolutely not. They’ll quit within a month and help introduce contraband in the facility because of easy manipulation.”
“So you’re going to bring 18-year-olds into an environment with some of the worst manipulators?”
Another commenter summed up the concern with a dose of humor: “Combining young and stubborn inmates with young and stubborn young adults is a great idea.”
Others said age isn’t the deciding factor
Not everyone opposed younger hires. Some readers said success depends more on the individual than their age.
“Depends on the individual, I’ve worked with many young ones who did a great job. I’ve worked with some older ones that never should have been hired.”
Others pointed to professions that already recruit young adults.
“Yes, the military does it, so why not? Set them up with a path for success.”
Another reader suggested the approach could work for certain roles: “Certain positions .... maybe.”
One commenter also noted that some states are already hiring younger correctional officers.
“Pennsylvania is hiring 18-year-olds. Our institution hired an 18-year-old still in high school. When he graduated, he started work.”
Commenters say corrections has an image problem
Beyond age requirements, some readers argued agencies won’t solve staffing shortages until they improve how the profession is viewed.
One commenter said corrections continues to battle outdated stereotypes: “Corrections has always been looked down on. If you want individuals interested in a career in corrections, change the public perception. Make it a job that is respected, prestigious and also well paying with benefits ... and you will attract motivated individuals.”
Others joked that lowering the hiring age felt like a sign of desperation.
“We’ve made it to the ‘just hire the children’ portion of chronic understaffing.”
The takeaway
While some readers supported introducing students to corrections careers through Oregon’s cadet program, many said agencies should first address pay, benefits, retention and workplace culture.
Do you have anything you’d like to add to the discussion? Add your take here:
Corrections1 readers respond:
- Former correctional sergeant here, now an Adult Pre-Trial Probation Officer here; hiring the 18-year-old correctional officer is a mixed bag, some go on to stay another 20 years, some 6. But I guess too, this is coming from those people before corrections ever had this bad a problem. The 18-year-olds now, working in deplorable conditions, nasty food, perverted inmates that will masturbate on a pretty officer or the 90-year-old nurse, then having to deal with spacing and bedding to lock them down. Not going to beat a dead horse, but some of these 18-year-olds are too soft for corrections.
- I think you are going to see a lot more contraband brought in. Some of these kids have never seen big money; inmates are aware of this, so they are going to begin to work on them as soon as they go on post. Nothing against young people, just know they do not see the danger or consequences that someone older may see. I feel at 18 years old that is too much responsibility, too much power for them to have. I don’t think it’s fair to them to give them 5 to 12 weeks of training and say, “Here you go, take off.”
- After working in Corrections for almost 20 years, I’ve seen plenty and worked with many. I agree that it depends more on the person, when it comes to age. When starting a younger person, it definitely needs to be stressed to them how working with inmates means manipulation and how a bad choice can put them behind bars and ruin the possibility of working in some professions, the same goes for anyone working in this profession as I have seen a few that were guards that are now in custody because an inmate has got them to bring things in, or had sex with them. I do not know what can make someone who truly knows the consequences of those behaviors cross that line, but it happens and that is something that really needs to be worked on. As far as pay they will never pay enough for all the things we must deal with daily for me there is no job I would rather do. Sure, every day I ask myself why, why, why, do I continue to work in Corrections as I’m sure a lot of you do. I guess some people are just made for it.
- No, it’s not a good idea and it is dangerous. We need officers who care about their job, job duties, job responsibilities, and the human being that they are in charge of ensuring safety until they go to court, and high school students are easily influenced, easily manipulated, and to summarize their brains are not developed. We need someone to come in and clear out the bad apples so the good officers are not threatened, retaliated against, or pressured to fall in line. Then yes, recruitment may be in an answer to the shortage, but the requirement should be more than 18 years old with a high school diploma or GED and include some type of training if they’re not going to enforce post training, then they need some other type of training for the mini different aspects in corrections.
Need to copy the New Jersey Correctional Police Officer model nationwide.
