MILWAUKEE — It appears a re-brand at the Milwaukee County Reintegration Center (CRC), formerly known as the Milwaukee County House of Corrections, may be paying off for officials trying to grow the force of corrections officers.
The CRC celebrated its largest class of graduates from its corrections officer training program, Jailers Academy, at MATC on Friday. The class included 38 graduates, including 25 headed to the CRC. The rest are set to work in other facilities across southeast Wisconsin.
"I wanted to be a person to make a change," said graduating officer Brandi Gatson, a single mom now looking forward to a new career. "At the end of the day, everybody makes mistakes. I'm not perfect, they're not perfect, but at the end of the day they're still people."
She plans to be a corrections officer full of empathy while working with those incarcerated.
"At the end of the day, even though we don't want them to come back, we just want them to know we believe in you all. We don't label them as an inmate or a bunk number, you're a person at the end of the day," said Gatson.
She's joining a force that hasn't been easy to grow.
"To give you a little bit of context we were at a 40% vacancy rate last year, we are down to a 15% vacancy rate," said Chantell Jewel, Superintendent of the Milwaukee County Community Reintegration Center
Jewel said the graduating class is a symbol of hope in terms of staffing for corrections facilities.
"I think with the re-brand we were able to attract some others who may not have normally considered the correctional officer role," she said.
And with more staff, Jewel said they can stay hyper-focused on their goal of helping to rehabilitate offenders and limit the number of crime victims in Milwaukee County.
"Once we connect people to whatever programming that is connected to whatever issues brought them into contact with the correctional system, we believe that is how we will impact public safety and create safer communities throughout Milwaukee County," said Jewel.
The Wisconsin Department of Corrections has an online staffing and vacancy dashboard that highlights the need for more correctional officers and sergeants at adult facilities statewide. The vacancy rate on Friday was posted at 29.1% and showed more than 1,315 full-time openings right now for correctional officers and sergeants statewide.
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