New Mexico Corrections Department is launching an aggressive campaign aimed at recruiting returning veterans to fill more than 600 job openings.
Corrections Department Secretary Gregg Marcantel said Monday that the department will help returning veterans with specific training bypass some academy recruitments to go straight into jobs at prisons across the state.
Marcantel said corrections officials will attend job fairs and offer training for returning veterans seeking a career in the department.
Corrections officer Xavier Hernandez, who serviced in Iraq and Afghanistan, said his training as a staff sergeant prepared him for his job at the Central New Mexico Corrections Facility, the state's largest prison.
He said getting a job at the prison helped him better adjust to civilian life.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.