A look at the Department of Corrections first training class of Officers in 3 years

By Ana Bottary

abottary@abc6.com

@anabottary

CRANSTON- 53 men and women are stepping up to see if they have what it takes to become a Rhode Island Correctional Officer. Tuesday, the class suited up in riot gear.
 
"This class prepares them for riot control, in the event that a riot breaks out or a disturbance in the facilities they are our first line of defense," says Roll Call Commander Tiffini Isom.
 
The cadets went over the right way to protect themselves. they then moved inside the former maximum security prison in Cranston for a drill about dealing with rowdy inmates, then outside to see how they would deal with a riot, even having objects thrown at them.

Roll call commander Tiffini Isom says these scenarios are meant to be realistic, to give cadets a look at all the possible things they could come up against.

"We train along with outside agencies we do mock drills once or twice a year with outside agencies to help us prepare for escapes," says Isom.
This is the first class in three years. The reason? The department of justice thought minorities were being discriminated against in the hiring process of correctional officers at the ACI.
 
"Based on information we had been giving them of our own free will over they years, that we had a testing process which had the effect not the intent but the effect of discriminated against minority males particularly Latino and African American males," says Director A.T. Wall.
 
We’re told 41 percent of this class is made up of minorities.

(c)WLNE-TV 2016