Wa Doc ??

[Madclown]

My family and I are looking at the possibility of relocating to Washington sometime in the next year. I work for a large Sheriff's Office here in AZ in custody, we currently house around 10,000 pretrial and sentenced inmates.

I love my job but not the state, we are undecided on what part of Washington we will be moving to, right now we are looking at Walla Walla county and Mason county.

I am trying to find out as much info on WA DOC as possible as this is one of the potential places I will be applying.

What is the hiring process like?

How is morale?

How good are the benefits?

How is the admin and command staff, do they back thier Officers?

Any info would be great!

[Madclown]

30 views and not one comment?

[shakedownshorti]

I do not live in Washington but have you checked to see if they have a web site for the Washington DOC, it might give you general information, and if you are patient someone from Washington I am sure will sign on eventually and reply....good luck with your search and keep checking back!

[Greg]

Been away for awhile, but I'll give you a few answers if you still need them

Originally Posted by Madclown

My family and I are looking at the possibility of relocating to Washington sometime in the next year. I work for a large Sheriff's Office here in AZ in custody, we currently house around 10,000 pretrial and sentenced inmates.

I love my job but not the state, we are undecided on what part of Washington we will be moving to, right now we are looking at Walla Walla county and Mason county.

I am trying to find out as much info on WA DOC as possible as this is one of the potential places I will be applying.

What is the hiring process like?

How is morale?

How good are the benefits?

How is the admin and command staff, do they back thier Officers?

Any info would be great!

Walla Walla (Washington State Penitentiary) I think is still doing a lot of hiring to staff their new expansion. WSP is a huge facility.

It's very hot in the summer, and cold in the winter.

Olympia (Thurston County) is where the WA DOC HQ is located. About 20 minutes from there you have the Washington Corrections Center in Shelton, which is the Reception Center for WA DOC. Shelton is the county seat for Mason County. Just north of Shelton about 30 minutes, you have Mission Creek Correction Center for Women, which is a camp.

Cedar Creek Corrections Center (a camp) is a short distance south of Olympia. West of Olympia to Aberdeen (less than an hour), you have Stafford Creek Corrections Center. People who choose to live between Aberdeen and Olympia have many choices for WA DOC facilities to work in, which is great if you decide you want to climb the career ladder. Also, you have the various counties to potentially work in. The counties generally pay better that WA DOC, although DOC pay has been improving.

Morale in WA DOC varies. It can be pretty bad at some of the higher security prisons to pretty good at the camps. I think this is probably the same everywhere.

As far as management backing the officers--some do, some don't, and everybody knows which is which. The current head of DOC (Secretary Eldon Vail) did not come up through the uniformed ranks, but he has done some good things for staff throughout his career. He has recently appointed Richard Morgan as the Deputy Secretary of DOC. Morgan came up through the officer ranks at WSP and has been superintendent of Clallam Bay Corrections Center and the Washington State Penitentiary. He is pretty well respected throughout the state. Secretary Vail then appointed Dan Pacholke as the head of the prisons in the western half of Washington. Dan also came up through the uniformed ranks. Both of these choices bode well for the future of uniformed staff in WA DOC.

The hiring process for WA DOC currently involves an interview and psych test. There was a Physical Agility Test, but it was been waived for this year because of staffing problems. Very few female applicants were passing the PAT, and that is one of the reasons that it has been suspended. Since the PAT was waived, DOC has had many more successful applicants (both male and female).

Coyote Ridge Corrections Center (near Yakima) is going through a major expansion and is doing the hiring for that expansion right now. Coyote Ridge has been a minimum security camp; the addition is medium security.

If you have any more questions, I'll be glad to try and answer them.

[artspooner]

I applied to Monroe almost two months ago and haven't heard anything. If they were interested, should I have heard something by now?

Jake

[Greg]

Originally Posted by artspooner

I applied to Monroe almost two months ago and haven't heard anything. If they were interested, should I have heard something by now?

Jake

That depends on a lot of things. They are a lot faster about it now than when I started in 1997, but it took around six months for me to get a call. At the time, the only thing you had to do was pass a written test, which I did in about October of 1996. I applied for numerous institutions and finally got the call from Clallam Bay in April, 1997. In the meantime, I called around to several institutions asking them about when they might be hiring.

Sometimes it helps if you make a polite call to the Human Resources office and/or the Captain.

Also, if you are moving here from out of state, you may want to consider picking a different institution. Among Washington communities that have prisons, Monroe is the highest cost area to live.

[artspooner]

Originally Posted by Greg

That depends on a lot of things. They are a lot faster about it now than when I started in 1997, but it took around six months for me to get a call. At the time, the only thing you had to do was pass a written test, which I did in about October of 1996. I applied for numerous institutions and finally got the call from Clallam Bay in April, 1997. In the meantime, I called around to several institutions asking them about when they might be hiring.

Sometimes it helps if you make a polite call to the Human Resources office and/or the Captain.

Also, if you are moving here from out of state, you may want to consider picking a different institution. Among Washington communities that have prisons, Monroe is the highest cost area to live.

Thanks. I would be coming from out of state, so thanks for the heads up. I'm going to look into what you suggested.

[dsns5000]

Originally Posted by artspooner

I applied to Monroe almost two months ago and haven't heard anything. If they were interested, should I have heard something by now?

Jake

Jake, you wrote this on the 16th. WaDOC sent out emails the 18th. Hopefully, you received one.

[artspooner]

Originally Posted by dsns5000

Jake, you wrote this on the 16th. WaDOC sent out emails the 18th. Hopefully, you received one.

No, I didn't. I just went to their website to check my status. I applied 6/15. As of now, I passes the their initial screen and am on the eligible list. We'll see...hopefully I didn't erase the email by accident. I did tell them to contact me by phone.

Jake

[dsns5000]

Originally Posted by artspooner

No, I didn't. I just went to their website to check my status. I applied 6/15. As of now, I passes the their initial screen and am on the eligible list. We'll see...hopefully I didn't erase the email by accident. I did tell them to contact me by phone.

Jake

I applied on 6/3 for Monroe, Coyote Ridge and Walla Walla. I received an email on 6/18 for Coyote Ridge. Does it really matter to you which part of the state you live in? I hear the whole state is gorgeous. Call them Mon. and put in for Coyote Ridge. Interviews start in Aug. and no physical test.