[soragamii]

Hello everyone! I am a new lpn (just passed boards !) and am very interested in correctional nursing. I want to specialize in either community health or go on to become a rn then nurse practitioner and am wondering if working in corrections will give me the required expierance. THere are NO positions open in med-surg, only clinics and LTC. Some nurses have told me that hospital expieriance is overrated but others have said that I shouldnt limit myself to corrections. What should I do??? Please help!

Thank you!

[tirzo13]

I have worked 2 years CDC.
As a LVN you will simply give out alot of pills, in fast order.
spend 2-3 hours packing, and do 2 med passes that take 30 minutes to 2 hours each.
thats it.
Nothing at all like community health that i did for 5 years.
I hear of people who say they love corrections.
i did not, nor have i actually met any of these people.
Everyone i know, its only for the pay.
If the pay on the outside was equal, we'd be out in a minute.
I'm taking a drop in pay big time to go to state hospital.

As a Rn you would do more actual patient care.

Get your RN.
If you stay an LVN, corrections is clearly your best pay.
I'd say move to SALINAS or Vacaville for the Dept. Of Mental Health within the prisons there.
They still use MTA's.
$7000 a month as a LVN/Cop.

[akwesook]

They are not using LVN-cop anymore (7000 mo) now it is just LVN at between 3300 to 4100 (depending on facility location) and not all that easy to get

[akwesook]

Just re-read TIRZO13's post - I was invited to interview at Salinas, they were hiring for LVN, not MTA---I would have loved to go for MTA

[tirzo13]

A little secret that alot of people don't know, even some of the MTA's that had to become CO's when the CDCR phased them out.

The DMH, dept. of mental health has 2 sections in Salinas Valley and Vacaville.
The DMH is still using MTA's and has no plans of getting rid of them.
So all the MTA's at those prisons, simply walked over and became employees of DMH, and are still MTA's.

Its the best route for a LVN, if you want to live in vacaville or salinas.

[tirzo13]

Don't be an LVN at Salinas, you will take home like $2200 a month.
Go to Dept of Mental Health webpage, and get the application for MTA.

Don't worry about what the MTA pay says, its never updated, most are doing about $7000 a month, as LVN, many are making well over $100,000 a year as LVN/MTA with OT.
More than the RN's.

[akwesook]

Thank you for your advice and I followed it.I guess they changed. I sent the following to their job site since there were no MTA listings. I would like to know if you use MTA's anymore. I have wanted to do that for several years and now am available. I have been an LVN/LPN since 1980, have a background in both Mental Health(locked unit) and County Jail nursing and am bilingual Spanish/English
Thank you,
I received the following :

Good afternoon,

We no longer employ an MTA classification, however some MTAs have also qualified for our clinical social worker positions. We also employ LVNs. If you are interested in an LVN position, please contact the Plata (Medical) Recruitment Unit at 1.877.793.4473 or MedCareers@cdcr.ca.gov. You can also access the online examination at:

http://www.cdcr.ca.gov/Career_Opport...cal/index.html

If you are interested in any of our mental health postitions, you can obtain job descriptions and applications from our website as well:

http://www.cdcr.ca.gov/Career_Opport...tal/index.html

Robyn J. Lee

Field Recruitment Unit, Office of Workforce Planning

California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation

1.888.232.4584

careers@cdcr.ca.gov

http://www.cdcr.ca.gov/Career_Opportunities/index.html

I think they stopped last summer. Unless I am missing something?

[tirzo13]

duplicate post. delete

[tirzo13]

Thats because you contacted CDCR.
They got rid of MTA's earlier this year.

you need to contact DMH, as i stated in my earlier post, NOT CDC.
the prisons no longer use MTA's.

DMH at Vacaville and Salinas still use MTA's, but they are not the prisons, so do not contact the prisons.
DMH rents space within the prisons at Salinas and Vacaville, but the prisons won't tell you anything, as they want you to be a 2000 a month LVN as they can't recruit anybody, and when they do, the LVN's march right over to DMH when they find out they can be an MTA for 7000 a month.

http://www.dmh.ca.gov/Services_and_P...es/default.asp

http://www.dmh.ca.gov/Jobs/Recruitment_Information.asp

it can be tricky to find things at the government site, if still having problems, pm me, i will give you the senior MTA phone number, i used to work at Salinas Valley, its what i was going to do if i did not pass the RN boards.

[tirzo13]

Actual DMH bullitin with the MTA job and pay.

http://jobs.spb.ca.gov/wvpos/more_info.cfm?recno=323851


$7300 for a LVN, thats more than i'm getting as a RN for the state!!!!
plus MTA gets better retirement.
3.0 and can retire at 50.
I as a RN get, 2.5 and can retire at 55.

It takes along time to get hired as a MTA, because its a peace officer position, so you may want to take a state LVN job, even for the low pay, just to get some state time on the books.