In early September, Mayor de Blasio and Corrections Commissioner Vincent Chiraldi announced that the academy, which trains personnel for the penitentiary system, will accept 400 to 600 recruits this academic year.
Both leaders clearly miscalculated. Only 64 people entered the first course. It is not easy to recruit people who hear reports of chaos on Rikers Island and outrage in other prisons.
However, de Blasio is optimistic and says that there will be more recruits in the classes soon.
“This is a very necessary profession,” he stressed. – Working in the correctional system opens up many opportunities. It guarantees to those who take it up, a reliable existence. “
Starting salary starts at $ 47,857 per year. After five and a half years, it gradually rises to $ 92,073.
The 64 new recruits who were the first to start their studies have passed the test for the position of a correctional officer, but have not yet been hired. The leadership of the department assures that 5 thousand people have applied for and the course will soon be fully completed.
The city continues to need jailers. Now the staff of the correctional system is 8,500 employees, but it is believed that this is not enough.
Newspaper headline:
I’d go to jailers: let them teach me
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