Most department employees are corrections officers. Persons hired for these jobs must have a high school diploma or GED certificate and at least 15 semester hours or 23 quarter hours in any human-service field such as corrections, educational psychology, law enforcement, theological studies, criminal justice, sociology, psychology or family relations and guidance counseling. Twenty-six Michigan colleges and universities offer the certified Corrections Officer Academic Program. Officer candidates for the job can also qualify if they have completed a bachelor's degree in any area or have completed two years of satisfactory employment as a corrections officer in a state or federal correctional system. They also must pass a Civil Service test, a physical exam, a physical fitness test, a background screening and a drug test.
New officers are probationary employees the first year of their employment.
Training includes report writing, custody and security, sexual harassment prevention, prisoner discipline and management, ways to avoid being manipulated by offenders, weapons familiarization, emergency health care, ethics in corrections, gender issues, interpersonal communications and many other courses. At the end of the program, trainees who have successfully completed all requirements, including a physical agility test, are graduated during a formal ceremony. The department believes new corrections officers in Michigan receive training that is second to none throughout the United States, in terms of quality and comprehensiveness. Non-custody new employees and new probation and parole agents attend up to 80 hours of classroom training, depending on the amount of offender contact required by their jobs. Six custody new employee schools were operated in 1998 from which 718 new officers were hired.