A small but growing number of teenagers are taking jobs inside of Texas’ prisons and jails, which face persistent staffing shortages, The Texas Tribune reports. To shore up the shortages, state and local leaders are launching new recruitment efforts that allow students to begin corrections training while still in high school, though they must be at least 18 to begin working inside lock-ups. In 2023, 68 18-year-olds obtained their jailers licenses, 17 times the number who obtained their license a decade earlier, said the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement, the agency that administers the jailer’s license exam and certifies trainers. Naomi DeAnda, chair of Odessa College's criminal justice department, and instructor William Misczak started a program with Ector County and the local school district, allowing high school students to get certified as jailers. The program launched this fall with six students, who DeAnda said are lured in by the prospect of earning $65,000 a year as a jailer as soon as they graduate high school.
In Smith County, Chief Deputy Jimmy Jackson launched a similar program through a partnership with Tyler Independent School District. Jackson, who was facing a severe staffing shortage in the sheriff’s department that runs the county jail, worked with the school district to create a program that would let students earn a jailer’s license as soon as they graduate. Ten students were enrolled last year, and 13 are signed up for this coming spring. Teenagers do not have to complete any additional training, beyond the state-required basic jailer course, to start working inside county jails. Gretchen Grigsby of the state law enforcement agency, said that so far, only Smith County and Randall County have piloted a program for high school students. The agency is asking the legislature to allocate $3.46 million over the next two years to fund new staff who would support school districts that want to create a jailer certification program.
Comments