JOBS BEING SOMEWHAT DIFFICULT to find nowadays, one assumes the state won’t have too much trouble filling 45 job openings currently advertised for correctional officers at Hays State Prison. That’s even if applicants are aware of recent bad things happening to both inmates and guards at the facility, although that may also help explain why so many openings are suddenly available in an overall staff of about 350.

Jobs paying $26,754 a year to start, with medical and other benefits, aren’t all that common nowadays for those with the minimum requirement of being age 18 or older with a high-school diploma or GED. And, one assumes, also not having been on the wrong side of a cell door. Women will not be considered for obvious reasons at the all-male, hard-core offender facility. Guard personnel are not armed as they supervise the inmates.

Assuming 40-hour weeks (with two weeks paid vacation a year) that comes out to $12.86 an hour which, just for comparison purposes, is far better than the federal minimum wage although still less than most positions in the textile industry — Chattooga being one the few places in Georgia where it still thrives.

The Georgia Department of Labor is holding a job fair for the positions on March 12, from 2 to 6 p.m., at the Chattooga County Civic Center in Summerville. Turnout may be informative in gauging economic conditions.