# Missouri

No Missouri state body certifies prison corrections officers or county jailers; the Department of Corrections appoints and trains its own staff, and the POST program licenses jail staff only when they are commissioned peace officers. Sheriffs run the county jails, and no state agency sets or inspects jail standards. Since 2023 the State has barred gender transition surgery in prison and jail medical care, extended limits on restraining pregnant women to county and city jails, capped domestic phone rates at 12 cents a minute, and let courts order 18-year-olds in juvenile cases held in adult jails. Most Missouri acts take effect August 28 after the session; entries are dated by effective date.

Source: https://uscli.org/corrections-tracker/missouri

## At a glance

- **Certifying body:** None for corrections officers or jailers as such. The Department of Corrections appoints and trains its employees; the director “shall establish the duties and responsibilities of employees of the department” ([RSMo 217.025](https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=217.025)). The Director of Public Safety (the POST program) licenses “peace officers” under chapter 590, and the POST Commission sets training standards. Licensing reaches jail staff only when they are commissioned peace officers, such as deputy sheriffs (590.010(3)). POST is covered on the [Missouri Officer Ledger page](https://uscli.org/officer-certification-tracker/missouri).
- **Statute:** RSMo chapter 217 (Department of Corrections, including probation and parole at 217.650 to 217.810); chapter 221 (county jails); chapter 590 (POST licensing of peace officers) ([RSMo ch. 217](https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneChapter.aspx?chapter=217); [ch. 221](https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneChapter.aspx?chapter=221)).
- **Minimum standards:** No statutory hiring standards for Department of Corrections corrections officers or county jailers were found in chapters 217 or 221. The POST minimum standards in 590.030 and 590.100 apply only to licensed peace officers.
- **Basic training:** No statute sets basic training hours for corrections officers or jailers. The POST basic course of at least 600 hours (590.040) applies only to peace officer licensure. The statutory training mandates found are topic-specific: Department of Corrections employees must be trained on the pregnant-offender restraint rules (217.151(8)), and since August 28, 2025 jail employees must be trained on the jail version (221.520).
- **In-service training:** No statutory in-service requirement for corrections officers or jailers was found; POST continuing education (590.050) applies to licensed peace officers only. Department of Corrections staff in institutional and community settings must receive periodic training on risk and need assessment tools (217.361(4)). Probation and parole officers who carry firearms need at least 16 hours of Department firearms safety training for certification and recertification ([217.710](https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=217.710)).
- **Decertification:** No certificate exists to revoke for corrections officers or jailers who are not POST-licensed peace officers; discipline is an employment matter. A Department employee who knowingly injures an offender “by beating, striking, wounding or by sexual contact” commits offender abuse, a class D felony ([217.405](https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=217.405)). POST discipline of licensed peace officers (590.080) is on the [Officer Ledger page](https://uscli.org/officer-certification-tracker/missouri).
- **Jail standards:** No state agency sets or inspects county jail standards. Sheriffs are the jailers (RSMo 221.020). In each county the presiding circuit judge, on the petition of 15 citizens or on motion of the court en banc, may appoint a six-member board of county visitors, which must visit county “corrective institutions,” especially the jails, at least once every three months and file a yearly report (221.320 to 221.350). Statute imposes specific jail duties, including medical care (221.120), phone access with a 12-cents-per-minute cap (221.108), and pregnant-offender restraint and care rules (221.520, 221.523), the last three since August 28, 2025 ([RSMo ch. 221](https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneChapter.aspx?chapter=221)).
- **Probation and parole officers:** Adult probation and parole officers and institutional parole officers are appointed by the director of the Division of Probation and Parole in the Department of Corrections (217.705) and carry credentials and a badge. No statutory certification or academy requirement was found. Officers, supervisors, and parole board members certified under the Department’s firearms program may carry firearms at all times; the Department sets at least 16 hours of firearms safety training, which may not exceed Highway Patrol requirements ([217.710](https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=217.710)).
- **Restrictive housing:** Department of Corrections: the chief administrative officer may immediately place an offender in administrative segregation for listed security reasons; a review hearing must be held within five working days, again 30 days after initial confinement, and every 90 days after that; records of names, reasons, and length of stay must be kept; and segregated offenders “shall have access to medical personnel” ([217.375](https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=217.375), last amended 2004). No duration cap and no limit for people with mental illness was found. For jails, no restrictive housing statute was found, except that since August 28, 2025 jail pregnancy procedures must provide that, except in extraordinary circumstances, no offender is placed in isolation during postpartum recovery (221.523).
- **Corrections use of force:** “No employee of the department shall use any physical force on an offender except” as necessary to defend himself or herself, suppress a revolt or insurrection, enforce discipline, or secure the offender ([217.405](https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=217.405)). Prisons (since 2018): unless a corrections officer finds extraordinary circumstances, no restraints on a pregnant offender in the third trimester during transport, medical visits, labor, delivery, or 48 hours postdelivery; never leg, ankle, waist, or mechanical restraints; wrist restraints only in front; a written report within 48 hours, kept 10 years; and restraints removed immediately at a treating provider’s request (217.151). County and city jails follow a parallel rule since August 28, 2025 (221.520). The POST respiratory choke-hold limit (590.805) applies to peace officers.

## Changes, 2023 to 2026

- Aug 28, 2025 — **County and city jails: limits on restraining pregnant and postpartum women, and required pregnancy care procedures** — HB 495 (2025), SS#2 SCS HCS#2 HB 495, enacting RSMo 221.520 and 221.523 · Approved March 26, 2025; these sections effective August 28, 2025 (the emergency clause, Section B, covers only the St. Louis police sections of chapter 84 and section 105.726) — The prison rule in 217.151 “shall apply only to the department of corrections.” New 221.520 sets a similar rule for jails: “Except in extraordinary circumstances, a county or city jail shall not use restraints on a pregnant offender in her third trimester,” whether during transport to health care providers and court, during medical appointments, or during labor, delivery, or 48 hours postdelivery. Pregnant offenders ride in vehicles with seatbelts. A sheriff or jailer who uses restraints must document the reasons and the restraints within 48 hours and keep the record 5 years. Except in extraordinary circumstances, leg, ankle, waist, and mechanical restraints may not be used, and wrist restraints go in front. Jail employees must be trained, and women must be told the policies on admission. New 221.523 required every jail, by January 1, 2026, to adopt procedures on maternal health evaluations, prenatal vitamins, nutrition, substance use and HIV treatment, hepatitis C, bottom-bunk assignment in the third trimester, mental health access, sanitary materials, and postpartum recovery without isolation except in extraordinary circumstances. — **For corrections staff:** Jail officers may restrain a woman in her third trimester, in labor, or just after delivery only in extraordinary circumstances, and must document any use within 48 hours. — [HB 495, truly agreed](https://documents.house.mo.gov/billtracking/bills251/hlrbillspdf/1623S.12T.pdf)[HB 495 bill page](https://house.mo.gov/Bill.aspx?bill=HB495&year=2025&code=R)[RSMo 221.520](https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=221.520)[RSMo 221.523](https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=221.523)
- Aug 28, 2025 — **Jail phone access, and a 12-cents-per-minute cap on domestic calls in jails and prisons** — HB 495 (2025), enacting RSMo 221.108 and 217.451 (codified as 217.441) · Approved March 26, 2025; effective August 28, 2025 (not covered by the emergency clause) — “Jails shall provide inmates with reasonable access to phone services during an inmate’s term of confinement, except phone access may be restricted as a disciplinary measure.” No jail, correctional center, or other party may charge more than the equivalent of 12 cents per minute, fees included, for a domestic call. — **For corrections staff:** Jail staff may cut off an inmate’s phone access only as discipline, and call charges may not exceed 12 cents a minute. — [HB 495, truly agreed](https://documents.house.mo.gov/billtracking/bills251/hlrbillspdf/1623S.12T.pdf)[RSMo 221.108](https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=221.108)[RSMo 217.441](https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=217.441)
- Aug 28, 2025 — **Courts may order juvenile-court detainees who are or turn 18 held in an adult jail** — SB 43 (2025), HCS SS SB 43, amending RSMo 221.044 · Approved July 9, 2025; effective August 28, 2025 — Section 221.044 still bars detaining anyone under 18 in a jail or adult detention facility unless the case was transferred to adult court. It now adds: “If a person is eighteen years of age or older or attains the age of eighteen while in detention, upon a motion filed by the juvenile officer, the court may order that the person be detained in a jail or other adult detention facility” until the juvenile case is resolved. — **For corrections staff:** Jails may receive an 18-year-old whose case is still in juvenile court, but only on a court order. — [SB 43 bill page](https://house.mo.gov/Bill.aspx?bill=SB43&year=2025&code=R)[RSMo 221.044](https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=221.044)
- Aug 28, 2023 — **Prison and jail medical care may not include gender transition surgery** — SB 49 (2023), SS#2 SCS SBs 49, 236 & 164, amending RSMo 217.230 and 221.120 · Approved June 7, 2023; effective August 28, 2023 — The Department of Corrections health care duty now reads: “The director shall arrange for necessary health care services for offenders confined in correctional centers, which shall not include any gender transition surgery, as defined in section 191.1720.” The county jailer’s duty to procure medical care in 221.120 carries the same exclusion. — **For corrections staff:** Prison and jail medical staff and administrators may not arrange gender transition surgery for people in custody. — [SB 49 bill page](https://house.mo.gov/Bill.aspx?bill=SB49&year=2023&code=R)[RSMo 217.230](https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=217.230)[RSMo 221.120](https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=221.120)

## Enacted, not yet in force, pending, and bills that did not pass

No enacted Missouri act affecting corrections staff that is waiting to take effect was found. Bills from 2023 to 2026 that did not pass, on corrections staff certification, solitary confinement, or jail standards, were not swept; this review covered the current text of RSMo chapters 57, 104, 105, 217, 221, 287, 556, 558, 559, 565, 575, 590, and 650 for sections amended from 2023 to 2026.

## Checked and unchanged

- RSMo 217.375 (administrative segregation): last amended 2004. RSMo 217.151 (prison pregnancy restraints): dates from 2018.
- Not credited: SB 754 (2024) amended RSMo 217.345 (separation of offenders under 18), but the prior text was not compared.
- Not counted: HB 199 (2025), effective August 28, 2025, amended the regional jail district statutes, including [RSMo 221.400](https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=221.400), which now requires a county joining a district that levies a sales tax to have approved the district tax. It concerns jail district governance, not staff, and the prior text was not compared.
- Not verified: Department of Corrections hiring standards, academy length, and in-service hours for corrections officers and probation and parole officers, which are set by Department policy rather than statute.