Ceremonies in Chula Vista : Training Center for Prison Jobs Opens

Ribbon-cutting ceremonies were held Thursday for a new employment and training center that will recruit, screen and train low-income San Diego County residents for jobs at the new Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility near Otay Mesa.

The center, on Industrial Boulevard in Chula Vista, is jointly sponsored by the Private Industry Council, the state Employment Development Department and the state Department of Corrections.

Tim Mullennix, marketing director for the Private Industry Council, a group of 21 business people responsible for directing job training programs, said the center will provide preliminary physical and written examinations, assess the skills and abilities of job applicants and will offer pre-employment training and referrals. Mullennix said the center expects to receive 3,000 to 4,000 applications for the approximately 215 correctional officer and 32 medical, food service and clerical jobs needed when the prison opens in November.

Four hundred low-income or economically disadvantaged residents will be selected to receive one-week test preparation workshops for the Civil Service exam for correctional officers. Candidates who pass the Civil Service exam must then be selected to receive six weeks of training at the Department of Corrections academy at Soledad. Mullennix said the Department of Corrections has indicated that all of the successful local candidates will receive priority for assignments at the new Otay Mesa facility.

The center received a grant of nearly $300,000 from the Regional Employment and Training Consortium for the training project.

The 2,000-bed, medium-security prison is scheduled to open in November with 500 inmates and become fully operational by October, 1987. Starting pay for state correctional officers is $25,000.