Alan Rakosky, a former correctional officer with the Hall County Department of Corrections in Grand Island, Nebraska, left the profession in 2012 after six years. [Insert comment.]

For two decades, turnover in corrections has remained a significant challenge, with annual rates ranging from 12% to over 40%, depending on the state. To put this into perspective, the average U.S. total separation rate (voluntary and involuntary turnover) is under 4%. Nearly 40% of corrections staff will leave the profession before their first anniversary, and 50% will leave within five years.

There’s no silver bullet for solving staff turnover. But when you look closely at some of its causes—such as low organizational performance and a lack of career development—these factors contribute heavily to low morale.

In March 2019, company leaders at GUARDIAN RFID noticed an emerging but unsurprising trend: jails using GUARDIAN RFID technology with the highest turnover also had some of the lowest compliance rates across its national user community. Two measures stood out in particular: rounds compliance (an early and reliable indicator of adoption success) and the company’s internal metrics commonly referred to as “breadth and intensity.” (Breadth refers to the number of software modules used regularly, while intensity reflects the number of records created within those modules.)

The root cause of low compliance and limited system use wasn’t a lack of training—it was knowledge loss. The staff members who had received initial and ongoing training had left, taking their expertise with them. And like a multi-generational photocopy, where each scan further degrades the quality, only so much tribal knowledge can be passed along before near-total knowledge loss occurs and software use flatlines.

The solution came from a straightforward but breakthrough idea. The team identified the problem, measured the trend, uncovered its causes, and repurposed an abundant asset: video.

In less than two months, Academy Unlimited was launched with video lessons covering the foundational aspects of GUARDIAN RFID technology. Academy Unlimited fully supports single sign-on (SSO) with GUARDIAN RFID software so that users can access systems and services with a single Warrior ID. Within the first six months, Certified Learning Paths (CLPs) were added. A CLP is a curated series of videos focused on a core topic, such as mobile inmate tracking. Each lesson must be viewed in full (no fast-forwarding allowed) and is followed by a test.

Upon completing a CLP, learners receive a digital certificate recognizing their achievement for that learning path.

So, What Makes Academy Unlimited Special?

The content is hyper-engaging and led by product experts from our Academy team. Every member of the team has worked in jails and prisons, and nearly all of them came from facilities that used GUARDIAN RFID firsthand. The content itself is world-class—produced by GUARDIAN RFID’s in-house video production team. And the user experience couldn’t be simpler: you log in with the same credentials you already use for GUARDIAN RFID software. No extra accounts, no additional passwords—Academy Unlimited also fully supports single sign-on (SSO).

Academy Unlimited goes far beyond traditional virtual training. Every lesson is step-by-step and organized by product or use case, making it easy for users to find training that matches their specific needs or interests.

Users can start, pause, and resume lessons anytime. Academy Unlimited is accessible anywhere—on a smartphone, tablet, home computer, or at your facility. Many lessons are under two minutes, while others, like the medication administration lesson, may run 15 minutes or more.

Supervisors and administrators also benefit from reporting tools that track staff progress, validate skill development, and support professional growth.

Examples of available video lessons include:

• How to Perform an Observation Check

• How to Log an Inmate Movement

• How to Build Shift Log Reports

• How to Log Supplies

• How to Log Meals

• How to Log Contraband

• How to Automate Headcounts

• How to Manage Alerts for Special Status Inmates

Does Academy Unlimited Replace On-Site Training?

Absolutely not. Our Academy product training team is the best of the best—so much so that we believe our approach sets the standard for how product training should be delivered. But as we saw in 2019, when facilities experience high turnover, they’re essentially playing Russian roulette with knowledge loss. In fact, such facilities are 50% more likely to fall into the lowest compliance tier within our national user community.

Academy Unlimited is an affordable investment that boosts morale, protects your GUARDIAN RFID investment, and helps position your team among the top performers nationally.

Unlike traditional learning management systems that charge per user (which can get expensive, restrict access to certain staff, or waste money on unused licenses), Academy Unlimited is priced with an agency license that gives you unlimited user access. Whether you have five users or 5,000, it’s entirely up to you.

And just as GUARDIAN RFID software is built on transparency and accountability, Academy Unlimited ensures your learning objectives are met through reporting that clearly shows who’s progressing.

Just three weeks ago, Guardians Greg “OG” Piper, Tyler Baird, and Chris Riedmueller were in the studio shooting brand-new content for Academy Unlimited. This included over two dozen new lessons for Command Cloud, the officer experience platform (OXP) that GUARDIAN RFID launched in November 2023. These videos are now in post-production and will be released to Academy Unlimited later this fall.

What’s Next for Academy Unlimited?

“It’s pure excitement,” said Chris Riedmueller, Director of Academy. “We know virtual learning in our user community is a valuable extension of in-person classroom training and the Go-Live shadowing experience we provide at every deployment.”

Mike Pittaro, product manager for Academy Unlimited, said, “Academy Unlimited is entering its most transformative chapter yet. We’re building a learning ecosystem that doesn’t just keep pace with the future of corrections, it helps define it. Our mission is to empower every officer and agency with training that is smarter, more adaptive, and always accessible. The next evolution of Academy Unlimited will deliver deeper insights, richer content, and a seamless experience that elevates professional development across the industry.”

Whether you need affordable refresher training, ongoing professional development, or a cost-effective resource for new recruits who missed on-site training, Academy Unlimited is a critical resource to consider. Self-paced, online training like Academy Unlimited not only safeguards your team against knowledge loss but also helps maximize your agency’s investment in GUARDIAN RFID technology.