Correctional Commissary Operator Trainee
Location: Cheshire, East Lyme, Suffield, CT
Date Opened: 1/27/2026 12:00:00 PM
Salary: $48,814 - $64,805/year * New State Employees Start at Minimum
Job Type: Open to the Public
Close Date: 2/6/2026 11:59:00 PM
The State of Connecticut, Department of Correction (DOC), has a current opening at York Correctional Center in East Lyme, CT, and may have future opportunities at Cheshire and Suffield, for Correctional Commissary Operator Trainees. This is an entry-level opportunity into state service, complete with a one-year training and cross-facility experience. Once the training program is complete, employees will be promoted to the role of Correctional Commissary Operator.
If you have three (3) or more years of experience in commissary or retail merchandising, wholesale sales or warehouse operations, we encourage you to read along and apply for an opportunity to work on our team!
Please note: You can be 20 years old at the time of application but will not be appointed until your 21st birthday.
What we can offer you
- NEW: Visit our State Employee Benefits Overview page!
- Professional growth and development opportunities.
- A healthy work/life balance to all employees.
- A Hazardous Duty pension plan (State Employees Retirement System Tier IV).
Position highlights
- Schedule: These positions are full time, 36.25 hours per week on first shift, Monday through Friday; however, the specific hours may vary by District and within the post assignments at the respective facilities.
- Training: The selected candidates for hire will be required to attend a paid 14-week hazardous duty training at the Maloney Center for Training & Staff Development located in Cheshire, CT. NOTE: This is a hazardous duty position.
- Career Trajectory & Pay: The trainee position is one year at a pay grade of CO 05 ($48,814/annually), after successful of completion of the 1-year trainee period candidate is promoted to Operator at a pay grade of CO 07 ($53,681/annually). Pay and compensation plans can be previewed here.
- Location: Commissary Operations for the Department of Correction is handled through Districts. Each district covers multiple facilities, and selected candidates will be assigned to a district but must be willing and able to work at multiple correctional facilities.
This is a trainee position, meant to provide instruction that is beneficial to becoming a Correctional Commissary Operator. In this role you will learn:
- Inventory control: identify depleted and slow moving stock, inspect goods for damage and compliance, initiate purchase orders, and keep up with changes to stock price.
- Scanning/sales: arrange and distribute order slips and orders to inmates, verify account balances, scan orders into data system, coordinate deliveries and work with inmate program participants.
- Security: develop security precautions and routines to protect stock and limit access to the commissary area, monitor inmate program participants, prevent inmate program participants from obtaining contraband, and stop disturbances.
- Supervision: train and develop job skills with assigned inmates, supervise inmate program participants, and submit reports on inmate behavior.
More details can be found in the class specification.
About us
DOC is a diverse agency with a wide variety of employees from Correction Officers, to Educators, to Managers and Skilled Professionals. We value differences that make us stronger as a team and support our mission statement.
Our agency is responsible for corrections in the U.S. State of Connecticut. The agency operates 13 correctional facilities. It has its headquarters in Wethersfield. The DOC protects public safety by ensuring offenders serve their sentences of imprisonments in facilities that are safe, human, and provide re-entry programming.
Qualifications & Requirements MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS - GENERAL EXPERIENCE
Three (3) years of experience in commissary or retail merchandising, wholesale sales or warehouse operation.
MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS - SUBSTITUTIONS ALLOWED
College training may be substituted for the General Experience on the basis of fifteen (15) semester hours equaling one-half (1/2) year to a maximum of two (2) years.
Experience as a Correction Officer may be substituted for the General Experience to a maximum of two (2) years on a year for year basis.
