Corrections Specialist 3 - Quality Assurance Records Unit

State of Washington • Thurston County – Tumwater, WA

3d • Hybrid

About The Position

The Washington State Department of Corrections is hiring a permanent Corrections Specialist 3 in the Quality Assurance Records Unit, within the Employee and Organizational Support Division. The position is based in Tumwater, Washington, and is available for telework within Washington when authorized. Work may also require attendance at headquarters, prisons, or community corrections offices around the state. The recruitment is open only to permanent Washington State Department of Corrections employees.

The role performs quality assurance reviews of court documents, agency records processes, and agency data systems to help ensure individuals serve sentences as ordered by the court. It reviews and calculates sentence structures and release dates, checks records and database information for accuracy and legal compliance, and identifies issues that may affect agency jurisdiction or an individual’s liberty interests. The specialist conducts audits, analyzes the causes of errors, recommends prevention measures and review criteria, and prepares correspondence based on sentence research and calculations.

The position also researches relevant laws, regulations, policies, and court decisions; supports records quality assurance projects; and helps develop and maintain desk manuals and assessment tools. The employee must maintain confidentiality of protected information and obtain ACCESS certification within six months of hire, maintain that certification, and obtain VINE access. A unit competency test must be completed satisfactorily.

Requirements

• High school diploma or equivalent.
• Five years of experience processing, maintaining, and reviewing legal records used to determine agency jurisdiction and sentencing calculations in a correctional facility, community corrections, or another legal agency, or experience supervising staff performing these functions.
• College-level coursework in criminal justice, business administration, accounting, social science, or a related field may substitute year for year for up to two years of the required experience.
• Obtain ACCESS certification within six months of hire and maintain certification while serving in the position.
• Obtain VINE access while serving in the position.
• Satisfactorily complete a unit competency test.
• Maintain confidentiality of information protected by federal or state law and agency policy.

Nice To Haves

• Bachelor’s degree and four years of professional experience in adult or juvenile corrections, social services, or a closely related field involving the Sentence Reform Act, sentencing guidelines, presentence investigations, agency records projects, agency jurisdiction, and time calculations.
• Experience in a criminal court setting processing sentencing documents to establish agency jurisdiction.
• Additional qualifying experience may substitute year for year for up to two years of the desired education.
• A master’s degree may substitute for one year of experience.

Responsibilities

• Conduct quality assurance audits of sentence-structure records to verify accuracy, completeness, and data integrity against court orders.
• Interpret court decisions, statutes, agency policies and records processes, and Indeterminate Sentence Review Board redeterminations to calculate or recalculate earliest release dates.
• Audit incarcerated individual records and correspondence to determine accurate release dates.
• Verify sentence-structure and criminal-history information, and validate the agency’s jurisdiction over sentences.
• Check records for compliance with applicable laws, court decisions, agency policies, records processes, and retention schedules.
• Review whether incarcerated individual records are maintained securely and central-file audits are completed within policy timelines.
• Identify critical OMNI data elements that affect release dates or liberty interests.
• Analyze the root causes of errors found during quality assurance reviews and recommend prevention efforts and future project criteria.
• Verify electronic database entries against sentencing documents and recommend resolutions to calculation-related problems.
• Research and calculate sentence structures, and draft correspondence responses based on those calculations.
• Recommend review criteria and outcome-documentation methods for selected samples of incarcerated individual records to the Records Management Analyst.
• Meet regularly with the Records Management Analyst to discuss review results, trends, issues, and areas of concern.
• Audit selected offender records for critical projects, including verification of sentence information, agency jurisdiction, and compliance.
• Research changes to laws, regulations, policies, court decisions, and administrative regulations to maintain proficiency and subject-matter expertise.
• Maintain confidentiality of information protected by law or agency policy.
• Assist with developing and maintaining quality assurance desk manuals and assessment tools.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Benefits

• Medical, dental, and vision insurance
• Remote or telework options and flexible schedules, depending on the position
• Up to 25 paid vacation days per year
• Eight hours of paid sick leave per month
• 12 paid holidays per year
• Retirement plan through the Washington Public Employees’ Retirement System, with new employees offered a choice of two employer-contributed retirement programs
• Flexible Spending Accounts
• Dependent Care Assistance
• Deferred Compensation

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Education Level: High school or GED