Friday, February 7, 1997
300 seek state jail job at Colorado City
By ROY A. JONES II / Senior Staff Writer
COLORADO CITY - Despite cold, drizzly weather, about 300 persons
came to the Colorado City Civic Center Wednesday night to apply
for jobs at the Ware Unit state jail.
"It was an incredible response," said Nancy Sullivan,
executive director of the Mitchell County Board of Economic Development.
She said she also had received requests by phone and mail from
people who said they could not come to the mid-week meeting.
The 900-bed facility is scheduled to open in mid-May, nearly
two years after construction was completed. It is named for R.C.
"Dick" Ware, Mitchell County's first sheriff.
Sullivan said the majority of those appearing Wednesday were
seeking correctional officer jobs. Initially, 80 will be hired,
enough to operate the jail at half its capacity, she said.
Starting salary for the guards ranges from $1,516 to $2,095
per month, she said, adding that the salary is paid during the
six-week training period. The jail will also create 140 support
staff positions, including 45 in health services. Other non-guard
jobs will be in supply, food, maintenance and laundry.
Sullivan said the non-guard jobs will be posted by the Texas
Work Force Commission at a later date. Applications for the guard
jobs opened early because the job requires training.
She said the workforce commission will screen applications
and forward them to state jail officials in Huntsville, who will
set up interviews and testing. That will be accomplished at the
Ware Unit, probably in two or three weeks.
The 80 people selected from that group will be hired in mid-March
and will begin their training at the Texas Department of Criminal
Justice's training academy in Beeville.
At full capacity the unit will have about 300 employees with
a monthly payroll of more than $600,000. The unit's warden is
expected to be named in March.
Sullivan said several area teachers have inquired about teaching
jobs at the state jail. Those jobs will be filled by the Windham
school district, which hires teachers for all state correctional
facilities, but area teachers will be considered, she said.
The state jail will hold non-violent, primarily young offenders
for up to two years. It will emphasize education, substance abuse
treatment and behavior modification.
Sullivan said many of the job applicants came from Abilene,
San Angelo, Midland, Odessa and from as far away as Lubbock.
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Abilene Reporter-News / Texnews / E.W. Scripps Publications
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