Recruitment and Retention Challenges in Corrections

Correctional officers are at the foundation of the correctional institution and are an essential piece of the criminal justice system. The corrections field needs promising solutions and supportive resources to address this problem. To understand what funding or support would be the most valuable, there needs to be an increased understanding of the most effective solutions. There are still large gaps in the knowledge about the most effective approaches for recruiting and retaining quality staff. As this problem continues to worsen, practitioners, experts and researchers should come together to develop a lasting fix for this chronic problem. It is up to the correctional leaders, subject experts and lawmakers to continue contributing to finding effective solutions to provide relief to these institutions and the officers who work to ensure the safety of incarcerated individuals, institutional staff and the community.