The Department of Correction recently graduated a class of new Correctional Employees from training, but hundreds of vacancies remain.
The class that graduated from Employee Initial Training on Sept. 28 included 35 Correctional Officers and three Correctional Officer/Food Service Specialists
Twenty-six of the new Correctional Officers have been assigned to the James T. Vaughn Correctional Center.
According to DOC officials, this new class brings understaffing of Correctional Officers down to 233 hard vacancies.
That number has grown since the last Academy graduated in late June.
Officials point to the 28 additional positions DOC was allocated at the start of the fiscal year as part of the reason for that growth. There were also roughly 20 retirements, resignations or terminations in the past three months.
Officials expect 37 additional cadets to graduate from the Academy later this month.