Correctional Officer - Temporary

Washington County (MN); Two Harbors (MN); On-site; USD 44,000 - 50,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

E-Verify Participation

Right to work Poster

Job summary

Washington County is seeking Temporary Correctional Officers to oversee inmates and ensure safety in the county jail and juvenile holding facility. The role offers flexible shifts coordinated to match availability and staffing needs, with an emphasis on maintaining order and security in a 24/7 operation.

Starting pay is $32.26 per hour, with standard pre-employment screenings including background, medical, and psychological checks.

Qualifications

• Requires graduation from High School or equivalent and two years' experience in related safety roles.

Responsibilities

• Perform daily inmate management duties within a jail facility.
• Supervise and escort inmates, visitors, staff, and vendors.
• Ensure safety and security of inmates and facility operations.
• Deescalate disturbances and manage emergencies in a calm, controlled manner.
• Maintain and document records and logs accurately.

Skills

Inmate management

Deescalation

Communication

Teamwork

Emergency response

Education

Bachelor's Degree

Two year post-secondary degree in corrections

Military service

Security services experience

Tools

JMS

BWC

Guardian RFID

PBT

CCTV

Job description

Correctional Officers are responsible for overseeing individuals who have been arrested and are awaiting trial or who have been sentenced to serve time in a jail. They are responsible for the safety and security of incarcerated people in the county jail and the juvenile temporary holding facility, which operated 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Paid experience as a current or former Correctional Officer is helpful but not required. Starting salary for this position is $32.26/hour. Candidates must be able to successfully complete a background investigation, psychological examination and medical examination.

We offer a flexible work schedule that can be tailored to the candidate’s availability and the needs of the position. Scheduling will be coordinated collaboratively to balance individual availability with the needs of the jail.

DESIRABLE EXPERIENCE

• Bachelor's Degree
• Two year post-secondary degree in corrections; law enforcement; psychology, or sociology, or criminology
• One year paid experience in corrections, law enforcement, mental health unit/psychiatric unit/behavioral health unit, or emergency medical services
• Minimum of two years paid experience in the U.S. Armed Services
• Minimum of three years paid experience in the security services field

SELECTION TECHNIQUE

Your training and experience will be rated based on the required application material submitted and the top scoring candidates will be forwarded to the hiring department for further consideration.

HOURS / DAYS

Temporary Correctional Officers will be used to cover regular Correctional Officer vacation, vacant shifts, and absences for training needs. A variety of shifts will be available and will be posted each month. Work schedules (hours and days) and location are subject to change based on department needs.

ANTICIPATED HIRING RATE

$32.26 Hourly

E-Verify Participation

Washington County participates in the federal E-Verify program. This means that Washington County will provide the Social Security Administration (SSA) and, if necessary, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), with information from each new employee's Form I-9 to confirm work authorization. If the Government cannot confirm that you are authorized to work, Washington County is required to give you written instructions and an opportunity to contact DHS and/or the SSA before taking adverse action against you, including terminating your employment. Employers may not use E-Verify to pre-screen job applicants and may not limit or influence the choice of documents you present for use on the Form I-9.

E- Verify Participation Poster

Right to work Poster

Correctional Officers are responsible for overseeing individuals who have been arrested and are awaiting trial or who have been sentenced to serve time in a jail. They are responsible for the safety and security of incarcerated people in the County jail and the juvenile temporary holding facility.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

Requires graduation from High School, or equivalent and two years' experience as a Correctional Officer, a member of the military, court bailiff/court security, law enforcement officer or security officer in a psychiatric security institution, OR a combination of related education (i.e. completed coursework with an unfinished degree) AND Corrections or Public Safety related work experience to total two years. Post-secondary education is desirable.

CORE COMPETENCIES, JOB SPECIFIC KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND ABILITIES REQUIRED FOR SUCCESSFUL JOB PERFORMANCE

Core Competencies

• Support and prioritize a welcoming and respectful workplace that fosters diversity and encourages contributions from all individuals.
• Provide inclusive and equitable service to all members of the community with dignity and respect.
• Demonstrate support for the County’s diversity, equity and inclusion program.
• Promotes a culture of continuous quality improvement in the workplace.
• Demonstrates knowledge of, or ability to learn, quality/continuous improvement.
• Demonstrates knowledge of nursing practices, practice of triage, nursing assessment, skilled nursing tasks, use of diagnostic instruments and apply independent nursing judgment.
• Demonstrates a strong ability to make accurate and safe assessments of medical situations.
• Demonstrates skill in assessing and creating care plans for inmate health care needs.
• Demonstrates efficiency using electronic medical records.
• Demonstrates ability to use general office equipment and standard office software.
• Demonstrates ability to work with physicians, correctional nursing staff members, representatives of other agencies and correctional facility personnel.
• Demonstrates ability to work as part of a medical team.
• Demonstrates ability to handle difficult and behaviorally challenged persons and remain calm in tense or potentially threatening situations.
• Demonstrates knowledge of laws, rules and best practices relating to working with inmate contact.
• Demonstrates ability to communicate with authority without provoking retaliatory behavior.
• Demonstrates ability to deescalate aggressive or negative behavior.

1. Perform daily inmate management duties within a jail facility.
2. Process people received at Intake/Master Control including fingerprinting, mug shot, searching, storing property and obtaining booking information. During this process, Correctional Officers qualify charges and ensures inmates are released after proper authorization.
3. Supervise, control and escort inmates, visitors, staff and vendors; ensures that all movement is authorized.
4. Determine security risk of prisoners going to court and escorts prisoners to and from court controlling their conduct; assist court security for emergencies if requested.
5. Deescalate disturbances and altercations in the Jail.
6. Record appropriate court data accurately and concisely regarding status of persons in custody, sentencing orders and other information on persons being sentenced.
7. Act as liaison between programs, probation officers, nurses, building services, crew leaders and the Jail.
8. May be called to testify in court.
9. Ensure the safety and security of visitors, staff and contractors.
10. Makes well-being checks of housing units and work areas and initiate counts of inmates at regular and irregular intervals.
11. Maintain control and discipline including use of physical restraint and restraining devices and professional communication techniques.
12. Supervise inmates in housing units, instructs inmates in housekeeping and sanitation, enforces rules, observes behaviors and documents inmate's behavior, maintains and updates records on inmates, including logs, incidents, profile information and forms.
13. Maintain proper security of inmates being transported, ensures that all transportation orders are completed accurately and signed by the appropriate authority, institutes proper restraints as appropriate for inmate's custody classification, and check transportation vehicles before and after transport.
14. Answer questions of the public, law enforcement officials, other departments and inmates in accordance with Data Practices Act and County policy.
15. Respond to emergency situations in the jail, such as medical, weather, fire emergencies and inmate disturbances; acts in accordance with policy and procedure notifies proper authorities; administer basic first aid as necessary.
16. Work auxiliary posts in the jail as in Laundry, Juvenile and transports, and/or DTM-G operator.
17. Operate all jail equipment properly.
18. Inventories all security items and equipment during shift.
19. Follow lawful directives of supervisors.
20. Operate numerous technology systems such as JMS, BWC, Guardian RFID, PBT, CCTV, security systems, water management system, fingerprint machine, ID system and internet.
21. Dispense medication under supervision of the Correctional Health Professional and complete and process inmate referrals to Mental Health Professionals.
22. Distribute meals, laundry, canteen hygiene items and cleaning supplies.
23. Enter and verify data into a computer system according to established procedures, maintain computer or manual logs, and prepare new files.
24. Provides truthful and credible testimony in court regarding facts of incidents, correctional procedures, collection of evidence and findings of investigations.
25. Maintain required certifications and training required by the Federal, State and Department laws, regulations and policies.

Performs other duties as assigned.

Essential functions: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20, 21, 23, 24, and 25.

WORK ENVIRONMENT

The job is light to medium physically with the frequent standing, walking, climbing and intermittent lifting up to 50 pounds and intermittent heavier, pushing, pulling or restraining required. The job requires rapid respond to code calls and inmate disturbances. Officers must be able to distinguish between the colors of blue, khaki, red, green, orange to maintain inmate security. The job requires working with 2-way radios, computers, telephones, DMT, fingerprinting equipment, pneumatic tubes, restraints, irritants and taser, PBT, BWC, Guardian, RFID, and DHH equipment.

The work is performed in a secure jail and involves supervising inmates incarcerated for criminal activities ranging from misdemeanor to felony offenses. This position frequently encounters verbal or physical posturing or intimidating behavior with an on-going threat of the situation becoming physical and which may which require the physical restraint of inmates. There may be exposure to disagreeable odors (body odors, dirty clothes), body fluids, hazardous chemicals, communicable diseases, mentally unstable individuals and individuals under the influence of controlled substances. Since the job is a 24/7/365 position, there may be occasional needs to alter normal work times to provide continuity of adequate staffing.

Additional physical/mental requirements that occur may not be listed above but are inherent in performing the position's essential functions.

This job description is intended to describe the kinds of tasks and level of work difficulty being performed by people assigned to this classification. The list of responsibilities is not intended to be construed as an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties, and skills required of personnel so classified. The County retains the discretion to add or change the contents of this job description at any time.