All new employees within the Department of Corrections receive training at the beginning and throughout employment.

New employees responsible for the care, custody and control of inmates must complete one year of on-the-job training. Four or five weeks of basic training are completed at the Departments Training Academy in Elizabethtown, Lancaster County. The training classes, plus room and board (not provided for employees of SCI-Camp Hill and Central Office due to travel proximity to the Training Academy) are provided at no expense to the employees. Courses in communication skills, inmate behavior, suicide prevention, self-defense, understanding and dealing with narcotics, search procedures, report writing, basic First Aid, CPR and riot control are offered.  Corrections Officer Trainee candidates must successfully complete 5 weeks of basic training to continue their employment.  Employees with limited contact with inmates attend either a two or three week basic training program.