New Correctional Officers to train in Palmer

[Greg]

New Correctional Officers to train in Palmer | Anchorage Daily News

By RINDI WHITE
rwhite@adn.com

Published: August 22, 2007
Last Modified: August 24, 2007 at 01:59 AM

PALMER - Where doctors and nurses once chatted over sandwiches and salads, correctional officers this fall will learn how to react when an inmate gets aggressive.

The former Valley Hospital cafeteria, beginning Oct. 1, will house the state Corrections Training Academy, Department of Corrections officials announced Friday.

The existing academy is wrapping up its third training session of the year at 3670 W. Dimond Blvd., in space shared with the Anchorage Police Department.

Program coordinator Doug Lloyd said the two agencies have outgrown the shared training space. Corrections officials said Palmer also provides a more Alaska-central location for training.

At Palmer, five correctional facilities and two field offices fall within 50 miles.

In Palmer, the academy will use the former hospital cafeteria and two nearby rooms, plus office space for Lloyd, four instructors and two administrative employees. Renovation plans include building larger classrooms, Lloyd said, but that remodeling project has not yet been funded.

“I’m feeling comfortable that the money is going to come,” Lloyd said. “This is going to be a really nice facility.”

The state bought the former Valley Hospital building in 2006 for $5 million. Legislators set aside another $3 million to begin remodeling. Two million dollars more is currently being spent to add two new courtrooms at the Palmer courthouse.

Plans for the former hospital building include moving the state offices for Public Advocacy, Public Defender and District Attorney there as state office leases in the Valley expire.

Lloyd said 400 to 500 corrections employees in training or taking recertification classes will be routed through the Palmer facility in a typical year.

Between 75 and 100 new correctional officers are trained each year in six-week courses and 20 to 25 probation officers in three-week courses. Most of the training will come in the form of one-day or two-day workshops.

Training in a more central location cuts down on costs for overnight stays and travel allowances that the state must compensate employees who travel beyond 50 miles. But corrections employees who travel from Fairbanks or Nome will still need overnight accommodations, Lloyd said.

In a state where summer tourism drives the economy, Lloyd said he tries to schedule the six-week correctional officer training academies in the summer as much as possible.

The department solicited bids from Palmer and Wasilla motels and hotels to provide that service, he said.

“For the particular class I have right now, I need a total of six rooms. But for other classes, I might need up to 11 or 12 rooms,” Lloyd said.

He added the training facility would be a pretty quiet neighbor. Officers might jog in the parking lot or do a few outdoor exercises, Lloyd said. And they may walk through the classroom portions of firearms safety classes, he said. But when it comes to firing weapons, that practice takes place at a range at Palmer Correctional Center in Sutton, Lloyd said.

“They’ll notice a whole lot of people walking around in uniform. Our next-door neighbor is the courthouse; right down the street is the jail. The people who live here ... have had a jail and a courthouse within a block of them for 35 years, so it’s no big surprise,” Lloyd said.

Palmer Mayor John Combs said he believes the training academy is a good use of the former hospital space, maybe a better use than if the space were used as offices.

Cycling 400 to 500 people through Palmer each year will likely benefit downtown Palmer merchants and acquaint visiting corrections employees with Palmer’s charm, he said.

“I think we’ll probably see a longer-term benefit from it being a training center, as it’s proposed,” Combs said. Combs said he sees potential benefits for both the city and the Co