Correctional Officer

Job Opportunities

Job opportunities to be correctional officer are expected to be excellent:

• the need to replace those who retire, or leave the labor force, coupled with rising employment demand, will generate thousands of correctional officer job openings each year.
• there has been a difficulty in attracting and keeping qualified applicants to be a correctional officer, largely because of low salaries, shift work, and the concentration of jobs in rural locations.
• Employment for a correctional officer is expected to grow more slowly than the average at a rate of 8 percent or less through 2014.
• Increasing demand for correctional officers will stem from mandatory sentencing guidelines calling for longer sentences and reduced parole for inmates.
• Some employment opportunities also will arise in the private sector, as public authorities contract with private companies to run corrections facilities.
• Layoffs for correctional officer jobs are rare because of increasing offender populations.

Basic job responsibilities:

The basic job responsibilities of a correctional officer may include:

• overseeing individuals who have been arrested and are awaiting trial.
• guarding those who have been convicted of a crime and sentenced to serve time in a jail, reformatory, or penitentiary.
• maintaining security and inmate accountability to prevent disturbances, assaults, and escapes.

Work environment

A Correctional officer:

• maintains order within the institution and enforce rules and regulations.
• monitors the activities and supervise the work assignments of inmates.
• searches inmates and their living quarters for contraband like weapons or drugs, settles disputes between inmates, and enforces discipline.
• checks cells and other areas of the institution for unsanitary conditions, contraband, fire hazards, and any evidence of infractions of rules.
• inspects locks, window bars, grilles, doors, and gates for signs of tampering.
• inspects mail and visitors for prohibited items.
• reports orally and in writing on inmate conduct and on the quality and quantity of work done by inmates.
• reports security breaches, disturbances, violations of rules, and any unusual occurrences.
• keeps a daily log or record of their activities.
• helps the responsible law enforcement authorities investigate crimes committed within their institution or search for escaped inmates.
• escorts prisoners between the institution and courtrooms, medical facilities, and other destinations outside the institution.

In jail and prison facilities with direct supervision cellblocks, a correctional officer works unarmed:

• summons help with communication devices.
• often works in a cellblock alone, or with another officer, among the 50 to 100 inmates who reside there.
• enforces regulations primarily through interpersonal communications skills and through the use of progressive sanctions, such as the removal of some privileges.

In the highest security facilities, where the most dangerous inmates are housed, a correctional officer:

• monitors the activities of prisoners from a centralized control center with closed-circuit television cameras and a computer tracking system.
• may have to restrain inmates in handcuffs and leg irons to safely escort them to and from cells and other areas and to see authorized visitors.

Requirements
There are several requirements to be a correctional officer:

FBI agent:

• Most institutions require a correctional officer to be at least 18 to 21 years of age and a U.S. citizen; have a high school education or its equivalent; demonstrate job stability, usually by accumulating 2 years of work experience; and have no felony convictions.
• Promotion prospects for a correctional officer are enhanced by obtaining a postsecondary education.
• The Federal Bureau of Prisons requires an entry-level correctional officer to have at least a bachelor's degree; or 3 years of full-time experience in a field providing counseling, assistance, or supervision to individuals; or a combination of these two requirements.
• A correctional officer must be in good health.
• Good judgment and the ability to think and act quickly are indispensable.
• Applicants are typically screened for drug abuse, subject to background checks, and required to pass a written examination.
• A correctional officer may be required to have firearms proficiency and self-defense skills.

A correctional officer can be a member of a prison tactical response team:

• responds to disturbances, riots, hostage situations, forced cell moves, and other potentially dangerous confrontations.
• practices disarming prisoners wielding weapons, protecting themselves and inmates against the effects of chemical agents, and other tactics.