Probation Parole Officer

PROBATION & PAROLE OFFICER GREAT FALLS, MT

Montana Department of Corrections (DOC) is creating a safer Montana through accountability, rehabilitation and empowerment. If you want to work making positive changes in your community, the Montana Department of Corrections is the place for you!

The Public Safety Division operates Montana’s prisons safely and securely and provides supervision and support for offenders in the community through its Probation and Parole Bureau. The work performed in this division is integral to the department’s mission to create a safer Montana through accountability, rehabilitation, and empowerment. Make a difference! Join us today!

The Probation and Parole Officer position, guided by the Mission of the DOC, plays a central role in managing the correctional population, promoting public safety and encouraging offenders to make positive life‑changing decisions for their future.

• Cooperate with, and solicit information from, the public and criminal justice system and supervise and counsel 80–100 offenders.
• Maintain skills and abilities to equally balance social work and law‑enforcement duties.
• Conduct pre‑sentence investigations and make placement recommendations for offenders sentenced to the DOC, collaborating with other criminal justice agencies and using investigative skills; knowledge of laws, rules and regulations pertaining to probation, parole, incarceration, rehabilitation and treatment programs, and behavioral science.
• Make recommendations for rehabilitation, treatment plans, conditions of probation, need for incarceration, and appropriate level (local jail or Montana State Prison) to the District Court and Parole Board through a written pre‑sentence investigation report.
• Refer offenders to appropriate resources or programs using departmental supervision standards, risk and needs assessment, and knowledge of state and community resources; monitor client progress for compliance.
• Investigate alleged violations of probation or parole using knowledge of policies & procedures concerning violations, search warrants & investigations.
• Arrest and detain violators and testify in district court and information hearings relative to sentencing or revocation of probation or parole status.
• Handle situations where probation & parole offenders or inmates become hostile and pose a physical threat, using oleoresin capsicum spray, firearms, and handcuffs.
• Work a varying schedule that may include nights and weekend hours and be available 24/7 to assist any DOC facility or law‑enforcement agency; physically be able to arrest, defend self in high‑risk volatile scenarios in and away from the office.
• Travel for the job may be required up to 10% of the time, in addition to travel for training.

Probation and parole officers must have at least a college degree in a related field such as criminology, psychology, social work, sociology, or guidance and counseling and some formal training in behavioral sciences.

Exceptions to this rule may be approved by the department. Related work experience in the areas listed in subsection (1)(b) may be substituted for educational requirements at the rate of 1 year of experience for 9 months of formal education if approved by the department. All employees are exempt from this requirement but are encouraged to further their education at the earliest opportunity.

Work experience that may be substituted includes experience in corrections/detention, criminology, education, medicine, psychiatry, psychology, law, law enforcement, social work, sociology, psychiatric nursing, or guidance and counseling.

This position requires Post‑Basic Certification after attending training at the Montana Law Enforcement Academy and successfully completing one year of employment with the Department of Corrections. In addition to the training and experience requirements, to be Post‑Certified the successful candidate(s) must:

• Be a citizen of the United States of America.
• Be at least 18 years of age.
• Be fingerprinted for a criminal history search.
• Not have been convicted of a crime for which s/he could have been imprisoned in a federal…