Orange City, Iowa — This is National Correctional Officers Week. Correctional officers are being honored around the country for the work they do.
Sioux County Sheriff Dan Altena says being a correctional officer or jailer can be a challenging position. He says their inmate capacity at the Sioux County Jail is 67 inmates. He says they house both men and women and both county and federal inmates.
Altena tells us correctional officers are required to have a certain amount of training before they start to work at the jail, and every year they go to training as well, plus Altena says they are trained on other topics in-house. He says it’s very important that they are trained properly. He says they handle everything from giving medication to the inmates to defensive tactics to protect staff and other inmates in case of a violent interaction. He says they even have to have some training in mental health issues. They’re also trained in security measures, which are important when they transport inmates to court or a medical appointment.
Altena says he and his staff want to honor and recognize their correctional officers. He says they go to work every day in what is sometimes a very difficult environment. We at KIWA honor and thank all northwest Iowa correctional officers.
