Rawlins Prison Seeks to Beef Up Officer Ranks

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — The Wyoming Department of Corrections is pushing to hire correctional officers at the State Penitentiary in Rawlins.

Steve Lindly is deputy director at the corrections department. He says there are now 64 officer vacancies at the prison and says the department is actively recruiting to fill them.

The prison currently has 227 officers out of its total approved workforce of 291. Lindly says there are 15 officers in training now, but said they won't be on the job for 10 weeks.

Lindly says the prison has not been forced to impose mandatory overtime on officers.

He says the officer ranks often decline as the state's overall economy improves. The latest statewide figures show seasonally adjusted statewide unemployment stood at 4.4 percent in November, the lowest level since early 2009.