Belmont Correctional Institute corrections officer and interim sergeant James Yost, on left, and corrections officer Christian Cavicchia show Jefferson County Joint Vocational School’s criminal justice students a powerpoint about the various career opportunities in the corrections industry.

ST. CLAIRSVILLE – Jefferson County Joint Vocational School’s criminal justice students recently attended an immersion program at Belmont Correctional Institute.

The annual program involves a weeklong visit to the correctional facility where students learn various aspects of the criminal justice system, including corrections, police investigation, court processes and jail operations.

Jefferson County Joint Vocational School criminal justice instructor Jamie Freeman said that this year saw the addition of lifeguarding to her curriculum. Students also receive CPR and first aid certification. The program caters to diverse interests, such as dog handling, education within the facility, mental health and corrections.

She added that the students work with correction officers and tour the prison.

“They get to see the officers do the different jobs and see the different opportunities within the correctional system and all the different departments that they have here,” Freeman said. “We started this program with former Warden [David] Gray and then Warden Shelbie Smith stayed on board with us.”

She added that the program is technically a two-year process because the students learn every aspect of the criminal justice world.

“They learn from police officers on how to do the investigation and how that process works. Then we go to municipal and county court, and we go through that process and talk to the judges. They watch court happen and see what happens with people. Then we go to our county jail and they get to see what happens in the county jail, how they’re held there while they’re awaiting trial while they’re waiting for the court process, they get to talk to people down there, see what the jailers do down there, how that process works, and then when they’re convicted and they’re sent to prison, we’re here now so that they see how that process works,” Freeman said. “So they get to see how the entire criminal justice process works as well as they go through like a dispatching course, so they learn how that process works. We do a little bit of everything, but this is our immersion work study part of the corrections course.”

Senior Delaney O’Brien said that her favorite part of the program was getting to experience the dogs.

She added that she originally wanted to take the criminal justice class because she felt that the criminal justice world was flawed and wanted to learn more about it.

“I thought, well, the best way to fix something is getting into it and working from the inside. Ms. Freeman has really changed my opinion on how I see the criminal justice world, and it has been a very big impact on my life being here,” O’Brien said.

She added that once graduating she plans to work in the mental health and behavioral health sector of criminal justice.

Smith added that the program is a great collaboration between the prison and JVS to show the students the various career opportunities.

“This opens their eyes and gives them an opportunity to see what corrections can do for them too. We have several different jobs here, and I came in and talked to them earlier this week, and just talked about the different fields they would like to look at, whether it’s a teacher in corrections or mental health in corrections or a correction officer,” she said. “It’s a great collaboration, and it’s also a great recruitment resource.”

The classes were led by corrections officer and interim sergeant James Yost.

He said that he believes the class is important because he wishes he knew all of the opportunities the corrections industry had when he was in high school.

“I personally didn’t have any opportunities like this when I was in high school, and I think at a young age, having people to ask questions to looking into an entire career people don’t know about they get to know about it before they graduate high school, and being able to come here and ask questions and see every aspect of it in here, it could give them a jumpstart career, freshly out of high school, and give them an idea,” Yost said. “We talk about our benefits here and how we have an Education Trust program that will help pay for college. That’s what I use here to help advance my career.”

He added that even if students aren’t interested in being only a correction officer, the correction officers at the prison explain the whole process to them on how they can advance their career in the corrections industry.

Corrections officer Christian Cavicchia said that the program shows the students a little bit of every facet of the jobs at the prison.

“There’s a lot of jobs in corrections, it’s not just officers. We have mental health staff, medical staff, librarians and school teachers. There’s people that manage our supplies in the warehouse, there’s laundry, there’s all kinds of different jobs that we offer, and job fields that are here for the state through the prison,” Cavicchia said. “We like to show them that they could get a job here as an officer and start a career with the state and then move on to many different things. I mean, there’s really a ton of opportunities. And the reason it matters to me is I never knew this was a job for my entire time through high school, when I had started college, I had no idea this was even here, or what jobs they offered. I just saw prison on TV, and never had I thought they needed people to do all these other things here.”

He added that when he applied to become a corrections officer seven years ago, he never imagined he’d find something he’d been looking for.

“It’s my passion. I’m proud of what I do, and what I’ve done ever since I started,” Cavicchia said. “I plan to keep doing it. But when I was offered an opportunity to get in with this, I thought that’s really cool and something I want to be a part of.”