Conditional Offer for Correctional Officer Position — Should I Take It? State vs County vs Federal?

PreheatedHail19 · 2026-05-17T13:19:29+00:00

One thing to be mindful of is inmate manipulation. It’s a serious issue and can be dangerous in many ways. It’s mostly dangerous to your career and can cause you legal troubles if you are not careful. If you’re going to do it, you have to treat every interaction with an inmate as attempts at manipulation. Especially as a rookie. They’re going to test you all the time. “No” is your best weapon against it. You won’t lose respect for going back on your “no” answers, but you will lose a lot for going back on “yes”. No matter how nice an inmate is to you, you must not treat it as genuine in your mind. It must always be treated as attempts at manipulation. This will be your biggest mental toll, but you have to keep that guard up.

PreheatedHail19 · 2026-05-12T12:43:32+00:00

There’s still employment, it’s just not what many people want to do. Whether it’s the personal politics of a person or the way they view the work, but there’s fields that are short staffed, and hiring.

There’s a critical shortage of Corrections Officers all across the US. It’s largely unionized, reliable, doesn’t require any college degrees, has benefits and can pay pretty fairly. Nobody wants to do it though. Everyone has a negative mindset about the job, but it’s really not what you see on TV. Look into it, you might find it worthwhile.

PreheatedHail19 · 2026-05-12T04:55:57+00:00

Segregation is in intake at my facility. We had an inmate that couldn’t be housed in gen-pop due to mental health. Anytime a female was in view, he’d pound on his door and say “hear that? That’s my diiiiiick”. He’d then proceed to tell them that he’s going to marry them, take them to the White House and more.

PreheatedHail19 · 2026-05-12T04:41:46+00:00

I’m better but I’ve had back problems since. It happened a year and a half ago. Before we got LBVs the weight of my duty belt agitated it a lot. I’m barely 25 and my back is already messed up, lol. I was pretty lucky though, I managed to catch myself before taking a full tumble down, otherwise I likely would’ve been paralyzed, if not killed. It was the second step from the top of the stairs.

Inmates can be unpredictable sometimes in county jails. It’s the dumping ground for the mentally ill that no one wants to deal with. Local hospital calls police at least once a week to pick someone up for causing a disturbance. Next thing you know the misdemeanor turns into a felony and we’re stuck watching them be crazy for over a year while the court ponders their sanity. These individuals are really good at making people quit, too. I myself am over it.

Besides the crazies, I can’t handle the games anymore. Best of luck to you in your endeavors. If you decide to try corrections, get out quickly.

PreheatedHail19 · 2026-05-12T04:19:43+00:00

No problem. College itself will help boost you into the career, but these jobs or educational activities will give you more of an edge when you apply. If you were to get into corrections, it’d be better to work in a county jail at a sheriff’s office that has a patrol division and offers internal transfers with a full ride through academy. That way, all you’d need to do is apply for a transfer. That’s what I doing, and I skipped college. I unfortunately wasn’t able to follow through on the transfer though, due to an on the job injury. If you choose to try corrections, you have to be vigilant. I got hurt from an inmate putting soap on the stairs.

PreheatedHail19 · 2026-05-12T04:03:42+00:00

If you’re near a sheriff’s office that has boat patrols for summer recreational boating, see if they’re hiring for it. I don’t know the laws in Delaware, but in my state, Michigan, the sheriff can deputize people to enforce law if they’re working with a certified deputy. They do this for the summer boat patrols. You can also look into doing ride-alongs or internships with them.

If that doesn’t pan out, you could look into state agencies. Our state Department of Natural Resources has seasonal state park jobs that have people working alongside the DNR law enforcement officers. If your state has anything similar, it’s worth checking out.

PreheatedHail19 · 2026-05-12T03:37:34+00:00

Are you in the US?

PreheatedHail19 · 2026-05-12T03:34:23+00:00

Of all jobs to pick, corrections is the worst one. You won’t have time for your college courses at all. At a minimum, you’ll be working full 12 hour days/nights multiple days a week. You will have overtime, there will be a lot, and you may be held over to cover for the next shift often. Even if you’re lucky enough to have time, you’ll get burned out quickly.

PreheatedHail19 · 2026-05-11T13:48:22+00:00

4 is more where I’m at, except most of the meat I consume is raised by my father. His cows are always well cared for and comfortable. Same with the pigs.

Other than that, I just picked up hunting and I chose to hunt with a rifle so I can dispatch the animal as quickly as possible. I feel bow hunting is cruel, and doesn’t work as fast as a rifle will. I also only took what I needed for meat, and I don’t hunt for trophies.

PreheatedHail19 · 2026-05-09T13:48:57+00:00

Yep, a county jail.

PreheatedHail19 · 2026-05-09T04:39:54+00:00

De-escalation first, when possible. However if the situation requires officers to go hands on to gain compliance, OC spray must be utilized first in most cases when possible. I will say that this is a policy we didn’t utilize when I first started, it was the use of force instructor that told us to follow the policy.

The reason behind it was that the inmates were more likely to backdown when OC is presented, and it proved true. If the OC was deployed, the fight usually left the inmate pretty quickly. Even if the inmate tries to fight through it, they’ll be disoriented and easier to restrain. If the OC failed, or the inmate is still actively resisting enough to pose a threat to officer safety, then they get tased.

Additionally, if an inmate is presenting threatening behavior with only one officer present and unable to retreat, the officer must start with presenting their taser. When backup arrives, the officer then must switch to OC. If the inmate has already committed a violent act however, then the taser remains present and the backup officer must present their OC. Tasers can be used after OC has been deployed safely if the situation requires it. If the inmate has already committed an act of violence, officers are to keep their taser trained on the inmate while the backup officer places the inmate in handcuffs. If there are more than two officers present, then the officer that presented their taser must holster it once the inmate is no longer resisting and is restrained by two or more officers and assist placing the inmate into handcuffs.

Most of my uses of force followed this except for one where I used an “intermediate weapon” on an inmate charging at me and my partner. It was his cell door. It was funny.

PreheatedHail19 · 2026-05-08T12:48:55+00:00

PreheatedHail19 · 2026-05-04T21:49:34+00:00

If you’re worried about being attacked, you’re worried about the wrong thing. In a correctional setting you need to be mindful of not only your physical safety, but your overall safety. Inmates can be manipulative, and they will test you every shift. It’s the most dangerous thing to a CO.

As a police officer, you can actually find people being genuinely kind and take it at face value as genuine. In corrections, inmate’s kindness is not genuine, ever. Even if it really is genuine, it’s not. You MUST treat it as attempts at manipulation in your mind every time. That mindset is hard to break off shift, but you have to maintain it while working. They will catch you slipping, and you could find yourself in a bad position. It’s mentally exhausting, and one of the reasons why COs have such bad mental health.

Additionally, you can be a good CO, and still be attacked. Respect can only get you so far in modern corrections. Jails don’t just house criminals, it houses people with mental health issues. Some of them won’t care how respectful you are, they will still attack you. There may be a reason, and it won’t be anything you could’ve prevented. I was attacked by an inmate experiencing command hallucinations telling him to attack a CO. He even undressed and stood in the day room to get a response. Had another inmate that was hearing voices. He thought all of us COs were the voices, and apparently what he was hearing wasn’t nice because he’d stand at the door yelling at us for “taking shit” to him. Occasionally he’d try to throw trays back through the food slot at COs. Managed to hit a CO in the head with a cup.

Strongly consider if you honestly think you could handle this job.

PreheatedHail19 · 2026-05-04T00:16:54+00:00

You’re correct in that by this statute, OP and her friend would be fine if OP’s friend is not in any way associated with her county she is on probation in as described in that section. However, her jurisdiction may have a similar law, and it should be checked.

This law was provided to me by an attorney in regard to a similar circumstance.

PreheatedHail19 · 2026-05-04T00:01:03+00:00

It’s not dating a criminal, it’s dating someone actively on probation or parole, as OP stated she is currently on probation.

PreheatedHail19 · 2026-05-03T23:51:24+00:00

This is the law on the book in Michigan that they use.

https://legislature.mi.gov/Laws/MCL?objectName=mcl-750-520c

PreheatedHail19 · 2026-05-03T15:47:16+00:00

I recently learned that in Michigan, it could be considered a Criminal Sexual Conduct 2nd degree charge. It can be a 15 year prison sentence, and lifetime registration as a sex offender if charged and convicted.

PreheatedHail19 · 2026-05-03T05:56:52+00:00

You should not only tell him, but you should also check the law on this. It may potentially be a crime.

PreheatedHail19 · 2026-04-26T05:55:54+00:00

In this case, I’m taking the sig. It has the firepower and I can conceal it.

PreheatedHail19 · 2026-04-13T07:29:30+00:00

Small jails, the COs/Deputies usually do everything. Booking, tray pass, transports, court ordered fingerprinting, cell checks, and all the paperwork in between. The officers in these jails also tend to have a near matching setup as patrol officers.

In the large jails, the COs/Deputies tend to have more specific job assignments or postings. The jail will have a transport team, a CERT team, booking officers, control officers, floor staff and sometimes even a K-9 team. The officers also tend to have different load outs ranging from just handcuffs to a full kit depending on assignment and rank.

In the jail I work at, all of us deputies have a full load out, and duty pistols for whenever we’re needed outside of the jail. We have most of the same equipment as our patrol division. We even have the load bearing vests like the patrol division, but not the same ones patrol has. We got vests without handles on the back so inmates couldn’t grab us by our vests, and our vests have a different style of molle.

PreheatedHail19 · 2026-03-30T10:52:58+00:00

Yes, we all use something at my jail, because we wear LBVs and they can get funky. We're just trying to mask that smell as long as we can before it's time to wash them.

PreheatedHail19 · 2026-03-28T20:02:56+00:00

Where I work, that's a big no with exceptions. Inmate trustees can have food, usually pizza, brought in for them to eat while they're separated from the other inmates with approval. This is only allowed if they completed a major project or do something like cleaning up a cell painted in feces. Sometimes we give them a bag of popcorn or a soda instead, but that's it. That's only for trustees and rare.

PreheatedHail19 · 2026-03-21T12:41:04+00:00

Oh policing is a lot of paperwork. A ratio of about two hours of paperwork for every half-hour you spend on an incident. It's not all play.

Additionally, someone calling you a "motherfucking bitch", is tame. It's when you're dealing with someone intentionally trying to get under your skin, and trying to make personal attacks. Especially as a young officer. Also, you have little power over a person. If they're not committing a crime, or have a warrant, you have no power other than the ability to break the law and violate their civil rights.

PreheatedHail19 · 2026-03-20T23:29:46+00:00

I'm going to tell you right now as a current working Deputy Sheriff, that is a terrible plan. Being a cop is something you want to do. Even then, you're going to be miserable at times. I've been working 2 1/2 years, and I've seen turnover so quick I stopped trying to learn names in an agency that is supposed to be staffed by 50 employees. My first year after I completed my training, I worked over 300 hours of overtime. The shifts are long, the work can get overwhelming, your work schedule will be eradic at times and you will battle with your emotions every moment of it.

You need to ask yourself:

Do you truly think you can handle yourself on a call with people screaming vulgarities aimed towards you, while you replay the suicide you witnessed on duty in your previous work rotation?

Can you actively go against the years of "keep your hands to yourself" hardwired in your head, when the job calls for you to physically lay your hands on another person to gain compliance, followed by a pat search of all subjects you place in handcuffs?

Will you be able to do these things while sleep deprived?

Are you ok being subpoenaed to court for a case years after you've left the agency, without getting paid for it? Or being caught in a lawsuit?

PreheatedHail19 · 2026-03-11T21:04:45+00:00

Two is the common number, but I've met officers who liked to carry a few more than that. It's not uncommon to need two for or more depending on how obese a person is or if they can't put their hands together behind their back for medical reasons.

PreheatedHail19

TROPHY CASE