Correctional Officer

The Job

Correctional officers oversee individuals who have been arrested and are awaiting trial or who have been convicted of a crime and sentenced to serve time in a jail, reformatory, or penitentiary. They maintain security and inmate accountability to prevent disturbances, assaults, or escapes. Officers have no law enforcement responsibilities outside their institutions.

Police and sheriffs' departments in county and municipal jails or precinct station houses employ many correctional officers, also known as detention officers. Correctional officers in the US jail system admit and process more than 11 million people a year, with about half a million offenders in jail at any given time.

Large jails or state and federal prisons employ most correctional officers, who guard the approximately one million offenders who are incarcerated at any given time. A few officers oversee those being held by the US Immigration and Naturalization Service before they are released or deported, or they work for correctional institutions run by private organizations.

Correctional officers maintain order within the institution, enforce regulations, and monitor the inmates' work and activities. Sometimes, officers must search inmates and their living quarters for weapons or drugs, or settle disputes between inmates, and enforce discipline. Correctional officers periodically inspect the facilities, checking cells and other areas of the institution for unsanitary conditions, contraband, fire hazards, and any evidence of rule infractions. Officers must inspect mail and visitors for prohibited items. Correctional officers report orally and in writing on inmate conduct and on the quality and quantity of work done by inmates. They usually keep a daily log or record of their activities. Officers assist law enforcement authorities in investigating crimes committed within the institution or help search for escaped inmates.

Working Conditions

Working in a correctional institution can be stressful and hazardous. Every year, some officers are injured in confrontations with inmates. Officers may work indoors or outdoors. Some correctional institutions are well lighted, temperature controlled, and ventilated, while others are old, overcrowded, hot, and noisy. Officers usually work an eight-hour day, five days a week, on rotating 24-hour shifts, including weekends and holidays.

When individuals are first arrested and arrive at a jail, their identities or criminal records may be unknown, and violent detainees may be placed in the general population. While both jails and prisons can be dangerous places to work, prison populations are more stable than jail populations, and correctional officers in prisons know the security and custodial requirements of the prisoners with whom they are dealing.

In jail and prison facilities with direct supervision cellblocks, officers work unarmed. They are equipped with communications devices so that they can summon help if necessary. These officers often work in a cellblock alone, or with another officer, among the 50 to 100 inmates who reside there. In the highest security facilities where the most dangerous inmates are housed, officers often monitor inmate activities from a central control center. Correctional officers may have to restrain inmates in handcuffs and leg irons to safely escort them to and from cells and other areas to see visitors. Officers also escort prisoners between the institution and other destinations outside the institution.

Employment

In 2002, about three of every five jobs were in state correctional institutions such as prisons, prison camps, and youth correctional facilities. Most of the remaining jobs were in city and county jails or other institutions run by local governments. Most officers work in institutions located in rural areas with smaller inmate populations than those in urban jails.

Qualifications

• Most institutions require officers to be at least 18 to 21 years of age and a US citizen; have a high school education or its equivalent; demonstrate job stability, usually by accumulating two years of work experience; and have no felony convictions.
• Correctional officers must be in good health. Candidates are generally required to meet formal standards of physical fitness, eyesight, and hearing.
• Good judgment and the ability to think and act quickly are indispensable, as well as good interpersonal communications skills.
• Applicants are typically screened for drug abuse, subject to background checks, and required to pass a written examination.

Earnings

Median annual earnings of correctional officers in the public sector were $40,900 in the federal government, $33,260 in state government, and $31,380 in local government. According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, the starting salary for federal correctional officers was about $23,000 a year in 2003. In 2004, an Illinois county offered an annual salary of $30,000, while California offered a minimum $29,000 annual salary for a youth correctional officer.