Verensics finds 1 in 7 correctional officer applicants in high-risk categories

Verensics says a review of 5,070 correctional officer candidates across multiple states found 13.9% fell into high or critical behavioral-risk groups. The report flags warning signs tied to abuse of authority, inappropriate relationships and gang-related reporting, giving corrections agencies a new look at applicant attitudes before hiring.

Why it matters: - Corrections agencies hire people with authority over incarcerated people, co-workers and contraband-sensitive environments. - Verensics says 13.9% of the 5,070 applicants reviewed fell into High or Critical behavioral-risk categories. - The company says the findings can help hiring teams target follow-up questions and make more informed decisions. - The report also suggests attitude-based screening can surface risk before a candidate has a formal misconduct record.

What happened: - Verensics released Behavioral Trends in Correctional Officer Applicants on Sept. 24, 2026. - The analysis reviewed pre-employment screening data from 5,070 correctional officer candidates at state corrections agencies in multiple states. - The dataset included 705,846 questionnaire responses. - The report compares 2026 results with Verensics benchmarks from 2023 through 2025. - Tony Paixão, Vice President of Investigative Platforms at Verensics, presented the findings on Aug. 17, 2026, at the Southern States Correctional Association conference in Savannah, Georgia.

The details: - Under abuse-of-authority indicators, 19.4% of candidates said senior officers may delegate personal tasks to lower-ranking officers. - 202 candidates, or 4%, said it was acceptable for a senior officer to trade a position for sexual favors. - That share was up from 3.4% in 2023. - 15.5% said employees should follow a supervisor’s orders even when those orders violate the rules. - Under inappropriate-relationship indicators, 16.1% believed it is better to overlook minor offenses by an inmate they like. - That was roughly triple the 5.4% recorded in 2023. - 2.3% found it acceptable to accept personal favors from an inmate. - 1.1% found it acceptable to supply contraband or smuggle items. - 5.2% said they would not report a romantic relationship between a senior officer and a subordinate. - Under gang-affiliation indicators, reluctance to report gang contact rose from 0.8% in 2025 to 2.0% in 2026. - 4.5% said they would not answer gang-related questions truthfully. - 7.1% reported friends or family previously involved with a gang. - 4.6% reported friends or family currently involved with a gang. - The report groups indicators into three stages: past involvement, present attitude and future reporting reluctance. - The methodology section says the results should be considered alongside interviews, background checks, reference checks and other hiring information. - Verensics said its platform uses AI-powered adaptive questionnaires that adjust follow-up questions in real time for pre-employment screening, insider threat programs and workplace investigations. - The platform is designed to collect and document self-disclosed behavioral information, identify areas for follow-up and maintain an auditable review process.

Between the lines: - The report’s core argument is that hiring teams should look beyond criminal history and focus on rationalizations, boundaries and willingness to report misconduct. - Overlap matters. 27.7% of applicants triggered at least one risk signal in both abuse of authority and inappropriate relationships. - 7.8% triggered signals in all three categories. - Applicants with elevated risk in those core categories were about four times more likely to show honesty, integrity and turnover concerns. - They were also four to five times more likely to show substance-use and workplace-violence risk signals. - Paixão said, “A clean record doesn’t tell you what a candidate thinks is acceptable.” - Paixão said risk can show up in attitudes before it appears in a record.

What’s next: - Corrections agencies reviewing these results may use the behavioral signals to shape interview follow-ups and screening thresholds. - The report frames the next step as combining questionnaire data with other hiring checks rather than relying on any single measure. - Verensics is positioning adaptive questionnaires as a screening tool for employers beyond corrections as well as for insider-threat and workplace-investigation use cases.

The bottom line: - Verensics’ latest screening data suggests a meaningful share of correctional officer applicants bring attitude risks that could matter on day one, not just after hire.