Hello All! First post here. I am about halfway through my LVN and am extremely interested in correctional nursing. Some background: I am a 39 y.o. male with nearly 15 years as a Certified Hyperbaric Technologist and as a Sleep Tech. I've hit a ceiling as both so I decided to go back to school. I'd love to get my RN but I have a family to take care of so LVN was the way to go for now. I subscribe to the California Dept of Corrections job list and I'm getting probably 10-15 new openings every 2 weeks. I spoke to the nurse rep at my local prison, Donovan in San Diego, and she said that they prefer at least one year of experience in patient care. I'm hoping that my years of experience will suffice. Question: I'm not all that impressed with the basic pay scale but I have heard that over time is nearly mandatory and that it can increase your pay by 1/3 per year. Anyone have that experience?