Illinois e-News Release

For Immediate Release:

October 21, 2022

Contact: Naomi Puzzello

Decatur, IL – Today, the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) hosted a graduation ceremony for 100 cadets who completed pre-service security training at the Department’s new state-of-the-art academy in Decatur. The commencement marks the first time a cadet class has graduated from the new training academy, which opened on September 12, 2022. The graduates of the 23-C-2 Cadet class are incoming Correctional Officers at Centralia, Danville, Graham, Hill, Jacksonville, Logan, Menard, Pinckneyville, Shawnee, Southwestern, Taylorville, and Western Correctional Centers.

The cadets were presented with certificates and badges and swore to the oath of office during the ceremony inside Maranatha Church before friends, family, academy staff, and IDOC leadership. Ovuokero Omu, Staff Development Specialist, presented awards to outstanding cadets in Academic and Professional Standards, in addition to the Instructor Recognition Award. IDOC Assistant Director Alyssa Williams delivered remarks at the ceremony.

For over 40 years, the grounds of the Department’s headquarters in Springfield were home to the training academy. In recent years, pre-service security training extended from six weeks to eight weeks to provide cadets with facility orientation. With the opening of the new academy, IDOC has implemented a newly updated training curriculum using technology and reality-based approaches. The latest additions to the curriculum predominately focus on using the Practical Village, which consists of mock cells and an area to simulate hospital procedures for furloughs and admissions, court writs, and other daily operational duties.

A vital portion of the curriculum at the new academy utilizes the VIrTra Simulator, designed to teach de-escalation and emulate real-life events that staff may encounter in facilities. After the cadets complete training in communications, de-escalation, and use of force, they are placed in scenarios in the VIrTra to see how they perform in a situation that is as close as one can get to real life without involving an individual in custody.

“The gracious opportunity the Illinois Department of Corrections has in Decatur will better prepare our future correctional officers for situations they will face in their career,” said Steven Ryan, IDOC’s Acting Manager of Staff Development and Training. “With the introduction of the Practical Village and VirTra simulator, we can place the cadets in a controlled environment for practical high-stress scenarios. Often, new staff face situations they were only told about but were never prepared to face. We now can offer preparedness training with this new academy.”

In addition to the enhanced curriculum, all cadets are issued laptops and flash drives to retain manuals and workbooks. This change also allows instructors to track and evaluate the cadet’s written exams and run an analysis to identify subject areas that need retraining. Each class at the new academy will graduate up to 100 cadets.