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Correctional Officers and Jailers

It's a bright outlook for

This career will grow rapidly in the next few years.

Learn more about what they do.

Guard inmates in penal or rehabilitative institutions in accordance with established regulations and procedures. May guard prisoners in transit between jail, courtroom, prison, or other point. Includes deputy sheriffs and police who spend the majority of their time guarding prisoners in correctional institutions.

Related: Bailiffs First-Line Supervisors of Correctional Officers First-Line Supervisors of Police & Detectives Police & Sheriff's Patrol Officers Probation Officers & Correctional Treatment Specialists

Industries: Government

Summary
Details

Inspect mail for the presence of contraband.
Guard facility entrances to screen visitors.
Inspect conditions of locks, window bars, grills, doors, and gates at correctional facilities to ensure security and help prevent escapes.
Counsel inmates and respond to legitimate questions, concerns, and requests.
Supervise and coordinate work of other correctional service officers.
Drive passenger vehicles and trucks used to transport inmates to other institutions, courtrooms, hospitals, and work sites.
Use nondisciplinary tools and equipment, such as a computer.
Issue clothing, tools, and other authorized items to inmates.
Sponsor inmate recreational activities, such as newspapers and self-help groups.
Use weapons, handcuffs, and physical force to maintain discipline and order among prisoners.
Conduct fire, safety, and sanitation inspections.
Take prisoners into custody and escort to locations within and outside of facility, such as visiting room, courtroom, or airport.
Participate in required job training.
Serve meals, distribute commissary items, and dispense prescribed medication to prisoners.
Take fingerprints of arrestees, prisoners, or the general public.
Assign duties to inmates, providing instructions as needed.
Investigate crimes that have occurred within an institution, or assist police in their investigations of crimes and inmates.
Monitor conduct of prisoners in housing unit, or during work or recreational activities, according to established policies, regulations, and procedures, to prevent escape or violence.
Use nondisciplinary tools and equipment, such as a computer.
Maintain records of prisoners' identification and charges.
Record information, such as prisoner identification, charges, and incidents of inmate disturbance, keeping daily logs of prisoner activities.
Provide to supervisors oral and written reports of the quality and quantity of work performed by inmates, inmate disturbances and rule violations, and unusual occurrences.
Serve meals, distribute commissary items, and dispense prescribed medication to prisoners.
Settle disputes between inmates.
Arrange daily schedules for prisoners, including library visits, work assignments, family visits, and counseling appointments.
Search for and recapture escapees.
Process or book convicted individuals into prison.
Counsel inmates and respond to legitimate questions, concerns, and requests.
Conduct fire, safety, and sanitation inspections.
Conduct fire, safety, and sanitation inspections.
Search prisoners and vehicles and conduct shakedowns of cells for valuables and contraband, such as weapons or drugs.
Conduct head counts to ensure that each prisoner is present.
Search prisoners and vehicles and conduct shakedowns of cells for valuables and contraband, such as weapons or drugs.

Monitoring
- Keeping track of how well people and/or groups are doing in order to make improvements.
Learning Strategies
- Using the best training or teaching strategies for learning new things.
Equipment Selection
- Deciding what kind of tools and equipment are needed to do a job.
Installation
- Installing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs.
Equipment Maintenance
- Planning and doing the basic maintenance on equipment.
Troubleshooting
- Figuring out what is causing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs to not work.
Judgment and Decision Making
- Thinking about the pros and cons of different options and picking the best one.
Critical Thinking
- Thinking about the pros and cons of different ways to solve a problem.
Coordination
- Changing what is done based on other people's actions.
Science
- Using scientific rules and strategies to solve problems.
Management of Material Resources
- Managing equipment and materials.
Speaking
- Talking to others.
Complex Problem Solving
- Noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it.
Programming
- Writing computer programs.
Operations Monitoring
- Watching gauges, dials, or display screens to make sure a machine is working.
Operation and Control
- Using equipment or systems.
Quality Control Analysis
- Testing how well a product or service works.
Systems Analysis
- Figuring out how a system should work and how changes in the future will affect it.
Mathematics
- Using math to solve problems.
Negotiation
- Bringing people together to solve differences.
Active Listening
- Listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions.
Management of Personnel Resources
- Selecting and managing the best workers for a job.
Reading Comprehension
- Reading work-related information.
Repairing
- Repairing machines or systems using the right tools.
Systems Evaluation
- Measuring how well a system is working and how to improve it.
Time Management
- Managing your time and the time of other people.
Active Learning
- Figuring out how to use new ideas or things.
Management of Financial Resources
- Making spending decisions and keeping track of what is spent.
Technology Design
- Making equipment and technology useful for customers.
Instructing
- Teaching people how to do something.
Persuasion
- Talking people into changing their minds or their behavior.
Social Perceptiveness
- Understanding people's reactions.
Operations Analysis
- Figuring out what a product or service needs to be able to do.
Service Orientation
- Looking for ways to help people.
Writing
- Writing things for co-workers or customers.

Gross Body Equilibrium
- Keeping your balance or staying upright.
Oral Comprehension
- Listening and understanding what people say.
Far Vision
- Seeing details that are far away.
Sound Localization
- Noticing the direction that a sound came from.
Speed of Closure
- Quickly knowing what you are looking at.
Visual Color Discrimination
- Noticing the difference between colors, including shades and brightness.
Spatial Orientation
- Knowing where things are around you.
Time Sharing
- Doing two or more things at the same time.
Memorization
- Remembering words, numbers, pictures, or steps.
Stamina
- Exercising for a long time without getting out of breath.
Night Vision
- Seeing at night or under low light.
Problem Sensitivity
- Noticing when problems happen.
Flexibility of Closure
- Seeing hidden patterns.
Dynamic Flexibility
- Quickly and repeatedly bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
Oral Expression
- Communicating by speaking.
Written Expression
- Communicating by writing.
Speech Recognition
- Recognizing spoken words.
Gross Body Coordination
- Moving your arms, legs, and mid-section together while your whole body is moving.
Glare Sensitivity
- Seeing something even if there is a glare or very bright light.
Hearing Sensitivity
- Telling the difference between sounds.
Inductive Reasoning
- Making general rules or coming up with answers from lots of detailed information.
Near Vision
- Seeing details up close.
Reaction Time
- Quickly moving your hand, finger, or foot based on a sound, light, picture or other command.
Arm-Hand Steadiness
- Keeping your arm or hand steady.
Manual Dexterity
- Holding or moving items with your hands.
Wrist-Finger Speed
- Making fast, simple, repeated movements of your fingers, hands, and wrists.
Rate Control
- Changing when and how fast you move based on how something else is moving.
Selective Attention
- Paying attention to something without being distracted.
Multilimb Coordination
- Using your arms and/or legs together while sitting, standing, or lying down.
Originality
- Creating new and original ideas.
Mathematical Reasoning
- Choosing the right type of math to solve a problem.
Number Facility
- Adding, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing.
Speech Clarity
- Speaking clearly.
Extent Flexibility
- Bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching with your body, arms, and/or legs.
Peripheral Vision
- Seeing something to your side when your are looking ahead.
Depth Perception
- Deciding which thing is closer or farther away from you, or deciding how far away it is from you.
Speed of Limb Movement
- Quickly moving your arms and legs.
Visualization
- Imagining how something will look after it is moved around or changed.
Finger Dexterity
- Putting together small parts with your fingers.
Deductive Reasoning
- Using rules to solve problems.
Written Comprehension
- Reading and understanding what is written.
Information Ordering
- Ordering or arranging things.
Dynamic Strength
- Exercising for a long time without your muscles getting tired.
Fluency of Ideas
- Coming up with lots of ideas.
Category Flexibility
- Grouping things in different ways.
Trunk Strength
- Using your lower back and stomach.
Explosive Strength
- Jumping, sprinting, or throwing something.
Auditory Attention
- Paying attention to one sound while there are other distracting sounds.
Perceptual Speed
- Quickly comparing groups of letters, numbers, pictures, or other things.
Static Strength
- Lifting, pushing, pulling, or carrying.
Control Precision
- Quickly changing the controls of a machine, car, truck or boat.
Response Orientation
- Quickly deciding if you should move your hand, foot, or other body part.

Computers and Electronics
- Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
Education and Training
- Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
Sociology and Anthropology
- Knowledge of group behavior and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures, and their history and origins.
Medicine and Dentistry
- Knowledge of the information and techniques needed to diagnose and treat human injuries, diseases, and deformities. This includes symptoms, treatment alternatives, drug properties and interactions, and preventive health-care measures.
Mechanical
- Knowledge of machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance.
Geography
- Knowledge of principles and methods for describing the features of land, sea, and air masses, including their physical characteristics, locations, interrelationships, and distribution of plant, animal, and human life.
History and Archeology
- Knowledge of historical events and their causes, indicators, and effects on civilizations and cultures.
Customer and Personal Service
- Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
Therapy and Counseling
- Knowledge of principles, methods, and procedures for diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of physical and mental dysfunctions, and for career counseling and guidance.
Transportation
- Knowledge of principles and methods for moving people or goods by air, rail, sea, or road, including the relative costs and benefits.
Administrative
- Knowledge of administrative and office procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and workplace terminology.
Chemistry
- Knowledge of the chemical composition, structure, and properties of substances and of the chemical processes and transformations that they undergo. This includes uses of chemicals and their interactions, danger signs, production techniques, and disposal methods.
Law and Government
- Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.
Telecommunications
- Knowledge of transmission, broadcasting, switching, control, and operation of telecommunications systems.
Engineering and Technology
- Knowledge of the practical application of engineering science and technology. This includes applying principles, techniques, procedures, and equipment to the design and production of various goods and services.
Biology
- Knowledge of plant and animal organisms, their tissues, cells, functions, interdependencies, and interactions with each other and the environment.
Psychology
- Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.
Administration and Management
- Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
Food Production
- Knowledge of techniques and equipment for planting, growing, and harvesting food products (both plant and animal) for consumption, including storage/handling techniques.
Physics
- Knowledge and prediction of physical principles, laws, their interrelationships, and applications to understanding fluid, material, and atmospheric dynamics, and mechanical, electrical, atomic and sub-atomic structures and processes.
Public Safety and Security
- Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.
Sales and Marketing
- Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.
Design
- Knowledge of design techniques, tools, and principles involved in production of precision technical plans, blueprints, drawings, and models.
Foreign Language
- Knowledge of the structure and content of a foreign (non-English) language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition and grammar, and pronunciation.
Production and Processing
- Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.
Mathematics
- Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
Philosophy and Theology
- Knowledge of different philosophical systems and religions. This includes their basic principles, values, ethics, ways of thinking, customs, practices, and their impact on human culture.
Personnel and Human Resources
- Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.
Building and Construction
- Knowledge of materials, methods, and the tools involved in the construction or repair of houses, buildings, or other structures such as highways and roads.
Fine Arts
- Knowledge of the theory and techniques required to compose, produce, and perform works of music, dance, visual arts, drama, and sculpture.
Economics and Accounting
- Knowledge of economic and accounting principles and practices, the financial markets, banking, and the analysis and reporting of financial data.
English Language
- Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, and rules of composition and grammar.
Communications and Media
- Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.

Education

High school diploma or equivalent

Work Experience

No work experience

Training

1 to 12 months on-the-job training

Education and Training Opportunities

Washington Annual Salary

76400/yr

Washington Hourly Wage

36.73/hr

Currently Employed

8,100

Yearly Projected Openings

820

Realistic: People interested in this work like activities that include practical, hands-on problems and solutions. They do well at jobs that need:

Self Control
Integrity
Stress Tolerance
Attention to Detail
Adaptability/Flexibility
Cooperation

Anti cut gloves
Body armour
Desktop computers
Ear plugs
Extremity restraints
Fire breathing apparatus
Fire extinguishers
Fire hoses or nozzles
Flashlight
Gas masks
Handcuffs
Handguns
Military rifles
Notebook computers
Personal computers
Personal digital assistant PDAs or organizers
Police or security shotguns
Radio frequency identification devices
Respiration air supplying self contained breathing apparatus or accessories
Riot batons
Riot helmets
Riot shields
Safety glasses
Safety vests
Security cameras
Tablet computers
Torso and belt restraints
Two way radios

Data base management system software
Data base user interface and query software
Document management software
Electronic mail software
Internet browser software
Office suite software
Presentation software
Spreadsheet software
Web page creation and editing software
Word processing software

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