correctional officer

parole officer

food service worker

administrative assistant

security officer

Missouri Department of Corrections

I for sure thought this would be a career I would most defiantly stay employed at until my retirement but sadly I resigned for the fear of my safety and management. 
The beginning of my first year started out great but within a short time it gradually worsened. We began to lose staff at alarming rates and as days passed the more I gained truthful knowledge first hand of how unprofessional the department of corrections was ran. Top management is cut throat and only cares about protecting themselves, if that means throwing you under the bus to make them and the department look good then they will do exactly that without hesitation, I have seen this done to numerous of officers. DOCUMENT EVERYTHING ON PAPER! 
You will be walking on eggshells at all times, written up or investigated for nearly anything. 
The ever changing policies and procedures can be challenging to stay on top of and could possibly set you up for failure if you don’t know them. 
The benefits are decent but pay is not merit based, all COI officers recieves the same pay of $14.25 /hr along with officers who have been there 20 years. If I were you, I would personally keep tract of your hours worked and watch your pay checks closely, they have been known to short employees paychecks on OT hours.  
A typical day consists of arriving 10-15 mintues before scheduled work time to sign in and for a briefing of the day (which is rarely) but need to be in attendance just in case. Five mintues before your shift begins you will be authorized to go through air locks to walk to your assigned post to relieve officers and radio equipment on previous shift. Then from there anything is possible, everyday is a different one for sure.  
If you chose gainful employment, starting out you will most likely be working every weekend. You can bid on a preferred job post with different days off which could include weekends or partial weekends off but that will not warrant you the post until you have enough seniority, which don’t take any length of time with the turnover rate. 
Be warned this place is ALWAYS beyond short staffed, risking your safety and others. Being voluntold mintues before the end of your shift to stay over to compensate the coverage needed for the next shift and due to the shortage of staff good luck trying to take a day off or a scheduled vacation. 
All management cares about is “bodies” to cover shifts, they could care less about your personal life, how tired or alert you are to perform your duty functions. Not to mention the drama and morale in the work place amongst the staff which could make for a hostile and negative work environment if you allow it to.
As far as offenders, there are decent offenders and not so great ones to deal with but that comes with any department of corrections, you have to be mentally prepared for that upon taking the job offer. As long as you are NEVER complacent, establish healthy professional boundries with offenders as well as with staff and practice the firm, fair and consistent treatment then you should be fine in that area. 
Overall, The Dept of Corrections can be an awarding career when managed properly and treated with respect from I loved my position and the work I performed. Yes, it can be mentally stressful at times but there is nothing extremely physical about the job itself.

Right now we are very short staffed. You will have to be ok with working 12 to16 hour days. There is a list used to help curb the amount of overtime one has to work. Depending on your institution and it's staff levels The trend is usually good economic growth short staffed lots of overtime. Poor economic growth lots help zero overtime. This job is not glamorous but it dose have decent benefits. It's base pay is not much more than stocking shelves at Walmart. With that being said, I have seen people gross as much as $79,000 a year because they worked 6 days a week 12 hour days and didn't take the maximum allowed vacation time. If you have a heart for community and can dedicate yourself. This is the job to have. I recommend that you treat staff and the clients with respect and dignity. This will make your job much less stressful. Hold the clients accountable for there actions while under your watch without displaying negative emotional responses. Taking things personal will make you burn out and stress you. I come from a family of corrections workers. To me these things are normal. The retirement benefits are good as well. If you don't have friends or family in the industry. You will have a long hard climb if your someone who likes advancement. That's not a negative thing. It's a trust thing. Correctional work is dangerous and you have to earn our trust and admiration. You have to be a giver this at most times is a thankless career. Just showing up to work on time every day is not enough. We don't get participation trophies. If your want to be a winner and move up you have to step up show up and be dedicated. After reading this I hope you don't change your mind. The department has done great things for myself and my family. We have more than we ever did and I feel a strong connection with my fellow brothers and sisters in the department. Come see what it's like to become our brother/sister. 

I really enjoyed working as a officer for doc when I put on the uniform I felt proud and held to a higher standard In eyes of public I wanted to Excell and be involved in different things through dept like CERT team etc.. I didn't have any problems with inmates I respected them they respected me I wanted to help them and felt good to be able to help. I enjoyed the hands on tactical training and all the other training. Here's the problem. Most officers are kids 19-25 that come from a fast food background most are arrogant and think the badge makes them invincible and treat inmates like absolute dirt in return it makes inmates pretty much feel negative about all officers. Inmates are tried and judged and in the system for their crime majority of officers go above and beyond to make their life as terrible as possible and treat them like animals and talk to them worse it's really no wonder why were hated, and yes some inmates have to be treated like that. Mdoc preaches professionalism throughout officers when that's the farthest thing  you get your expected to know everything and get chewed if you make a mistake only a few sgts actually help you and only a few talk to you like a human they give you a stack of procedures that house Sgt is supposed to explain and watch you perform then sign off on like 30 different things how to cuff, escorting property removal etc not one person out of my class of 12 had any of that signed. No matter how much you work it's not enough they mandate overtime and if you can't work it well your treated like dirt forget any advancement and expect bad duties after that. your required to work every holiday and every weekend. Don't get me wrong there are some good officers and sgts but few. Most of em get together and watch the security footage of them blinding  inmates with spray then beating the snot out of them when their blind. Then talk about how bad  they are, that badge goes straight to their head think they can't be touched I could keep going and going.

You must be organized to handle a job at the Dept. of Corrections.  I have learned how to put warrants on offenders, Detainers on them when they get locked up, discharge them from the justice system, put them into the system once they commit the crime and see a judge, suspend them for whatever reason the PO wants, revoke them to prison, cancel warrants on them, and run record checks on them to find out their criminal history and if they have warrants out for their arrest and why.  Most of the management is power hungry.  For me the hardest part of the job was getting to understand it.  You must be told background and why of the job, in order for you to understand what you are doing and to be able to do your job the best you can and be willing to put the effort into your work and be good at what you do.  The most enjoyable part of the job is when you get the holidays off that no other company give you off.

The Dept. of Corrections....It would be a decent place to work, if you could count on going in, working your 8 hours, and going home. That rarely happens, maybe 50% of the time. The other 50%, your stuck for overtime, either a 12, or 16 hour day. It's an "Easy" job, physically. Basically, your doing walkthroughs, pat searching offenders, and doing locker searches and inventories, correcting inmates bad behavior. That's the jest of what you'll be DOING.   The other issue is, you may not know if you'll be called for overtime until towards the end of your shift. It does get a little better as you get better seniority, but it won't stay that way. I've always said, anybody working for the Dept. of Corrections has no reason to be broke. Work more overtime and better manage your money. The Benefits are decent, parental leave, 5 hours annual, 5 hours sick leave accrued per pay period. 5 Days bereavement leave if you lose a loved one,  13 Paid Holidays per year. But the place has a terrible turnover rate. New folks come in, and either get scared off by inmates or the amount of overtime worked, and the cycle continues. As long as Overtime is hopping, you don't have much of a home life. Your either in sleeping clothes, or work uniform. I hate to knock the place too bad, since It has provided for my family over the years, but it has issues that administration has no clue how to fix. It has been said before: This is the easiest job, you will ever hate. Fairly accurate. 

•  A typical day at work with the MODOC is long and stressful. Critical staffing forces employees to work multiple 16-hour shifts weekly, leaving no time for a social or family life. The primary reason for this staffing shortage is due to the pay scale which is far below the national average. While on the job, expect to be treated like dirt by administration. The inmates are treated with more respect, care and given more comfort than the officers. Some examples of this behavior include giving the inmates tablets to check emails and listen to music. Staff not even allowed the simple comforts such as insulated lunch bags to keep food cold.

• The workplace culture is highly negative and reclusive. The entire department has earned it's reputation as being corrupt and is hated in the public eye. Mentioning working for the MODOC is a great way to avoid conversations and stay single.

• The hardest part of the job is the mandatory overtime. Corrections Officers are considered "essential staffing" and required to maintain numbers to fill vacancies. During normal staffing, this isn't a problem but the department has not been at normal staffing for the past 5 years. In fact, it's getting much worse and the current directors and assistant directors are not interested in hearing solutions.

• The most enjoyable part of the job is the retirement plan and benefits. Though not what it was 8 eight years ago, still provides deferred comp, state pension, health, dental and vision at a lower cost than most private insurances.

There are many cons. Work to life balance is not good. Management acts like they care, and some do, but most could care less about whether or not you have a job or not. The inmates are less likely to set you up and get you into trouble than the staff. The staff watch you like a hawk. Keep your mouth shut and opinions to yourself. You might offend someone and go under investigation and have pending disciplinary action. They raised the wages, yes, but then they also raised the insurance premiums to the same percentage as the pay increase.  They promised to raise the pay again, however there’s always a catch with the D.O.C. If you’re looking for a great paycheck, don’t work here. Wages look higher, but you’ll make more at McDonald’s with less work. Also, if you don’t suffer from mental illness, you’ll develop one. This job can give you PTSD. It is mentally taxing. If you’re nice, people will walk all over you. If you come to work and have a perfect attendance record, but say the wrong thing to the wrong person, you’re getting into trouble. The computer training  they make you do has nothing to do with corrections. It is mandatory and a waste of time. It will always seem like there is never enough time to finish work objectives. If you want this job anyway, don’t work at the women’s prison. The men’s may be more dangerous, but the staff aren’t a bunch of snowflakes. The inmates will also respect you more. Also promoting is not worth the extra 100 dollars before taxes.

The Missouri Department has decent benefits such as Heath, Vision, & Dental, 3 Weeks Paid Sick Leave, and 3 Weeks of Vacation Leave. All "Non-Custody" staff (Non Correctional Officer Positions) work 40 hours per week, Monday thru Friday with 12 paid holiday's. However, "Custody" or Correctional Officer's are awarded compensatory time for working holiday's, and are required to work overtime when needed. Unfortunately, pay for all Correctional Staff always remains one of the lowest in the country., with minimal pay raises of approximately 6 cents per hour, every 3-4 years,which even new comers get too. The environment is a very high stress environment, similar to that of other Law Enforcement. One must have excellent ability to remain professional at all times, and a outstanding ability to manage stress. Also, all prison's in Missouri are tobacco free, this means no smoking, or chewing within the parameter fences. Must be a people person to be successful as you're dealing with people. Must be able to be confident, and able to tell other's "No", I do have to say that their training practices are far better than most correctional training. Advancement opportunities don't come around very often, and often require a college education.

Don't get me wrong...I loved my job with Missouri DOC.  My co-workers were like a little dysfunctional family and we loved each other for the most part.  The downside was mandatory overtime.  If you had a doctors appointment or something going on in your personal life and they stopped you on the way out to mandate you for overtime they would write you up for refusal even if you had a doctor's appointment.  The only way to "avoid mandation" is to work 12's every other day.  We were so short staffed that officer safety was a HUGE concern.  There were times where we only had 2 CO's in a housing unit.  Not safe.  But I will say this...we had each others backs.  It has potential to be a fantastic career if they would extend training to better prepare new officers for what they are really walking into instead of showing them sunshine and rainbows.  They continuously shorten the training and took the physical skills test.  Now there are individuals working that (I mean no disrespect to those officers) cannot run 100ft if their life depended on it which in some cases it does or somebody else's life.  Raise the pay, get better benefits (was great around 2007 time frame), extend training, bring back physical skill requirements.  I need somebody on my team that I know will be able to have my back.

The bureaucratic nonsense is very strong in Mighty MO. You are just a body to them. Used to be more family oriented. You used to want to be there to do your job and get your fellow Officers back. They have stripped so much from the Officers it's ridiculous. Our state government has always kept the Corrections staff on the back, back burner. They are probably THE largest employer for the state. They don't care. A legit lawsuit was filed against the state by the Corrections officers. A Jury made up of great citizens of this awesome State decided in favor of the officers. The State said NO, these citizens aren't so great, we want to appeal. The Appeals Judge sided with the Jury's decision. Now the state is taking it to the Supreme Court of the state. The Chief Justice wanted to take it first and I'm afraid that state bureaucracy is at hand here. Something is not right. Just pay the officers. The State of MO is making a mockery of our court system. If someone was being convicted of a crime and the jury said guilty do you think the state will say no. No, they won't. They will say the Jury made up of our great citizens did their duty and made a decision that we will back up. A state government that is not right.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Correctional officer 245 salaries reported	$46,708 per year
Parole officer 270 salaries reported	$47,301 per year
Food service worker 17 salaries reported	$16.80 per hour
Administrative assistant 126 salaries reported	$38,499 per year
Security officer 80 salaries reported	$46,896 per year

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