Corrections_Today_January_February_2021_Vol.83_No.1

their duties in that particular facility. Accompanied with other common practices for jailer training across the state and the country, understanding the nuances of the facility, as well as using general training guidelines provided the necessary information for a custom-tailored training cur- riculum for these Midwestern deputy jailers. The research involving the Miami County Sheriff’s

The results of the interviews The first interview questions pertained to employment factors. When asked how long the interviewees had been employed as deputy jailers, the average answer was 13 months, although this result was skewed by one individual who has been in their current role for almost 14 years. This

overall average indicated an obvious lack of longevity at the deputy jailer position. This may be explained in part by the fact that eight of the 10 interviewees had aspirations of promoting within the department. Out of these eight, seven hope to be a certified road patrol deputy in the future. The most logical reason for wanting to promote is the substan- tial pay increase in starting salary, depending on experience. Only 30% of the jailers inter - viewed heard about the job opening online. Of those three, only two interviewees found out about the opening via the county’s website. On the contrary, half of the deputy jailers were referred by someone who was employed by the sheriff’s office. Word of mouth and employ - ee referrals appear to be the most effective hiring strategy compared to online job postings. Fortunately, the average hiring process for each

Office had two main objectives upon its inception. The first of which was to create a structured, initial training program for oncoming jailers in an effort to have a consistent baseline as they enter into the jailer training officer phase of their deputy jailer training. The second main purpose was to identify opportunities for improvement in the current curricu- lum as well as bolster the areas of the existing training that are already somewhat effective by making them as current and up to date as possible. The ability to interview jailers in a one-on-one private setting with the guarantee of anonymity allowed for honest, valuable and action- able answers that have provided a basis for the development of content for the new initial jailer training curriculum. One factor that was taken into consideration during the interviews was the length of time each inter- viewee had been employed by the sheriff’s office in their current role. Logically, jailers who had been with the Miami County Sheriff’s Office longer than five years likely went through a completely different

Photo courtesy Patricia Dahl

Robert Sturm, a graduate student at Washburn University, presents his proposed program that would provide consistency and good content for any agency charged with management of a jail.

jailer was only 2.6 months. This relatively quick hiring process should likely keep the sheriff’s office from losing potential quali - fied applicants to other competing agencies. Lastly, 60% of the jailers interviewed stated that the nature of the job was much dif - ferent than they had anticipated for various reasons. The first area of training interest that the interviews addressed was the current structure of the initial jailer training program. The research shows that all 10 jailers interviewed were trained exclusively in-house. Unfortu- nately, that is mostly where the consistencies end. Nearly every jailer listed a proportionately different amount of

initial training phase and many of them indicated that as a caveat to their responses. Fortunately, there were interviewee(s) that were either still in the jail train - ing officer phase of their training or had very recently completed their jailer training entirely and the data they provided during the interviews was able to be viewed at with great relevancy based on the fact they had gone through the initial training phase so recently.

Corrections Today January/February 2021 — 17