Correctional Officers and Jailers

A Day in the Life

Your work day may not be a day at all; prisons need to be staffed with guards 24 hours a day, and that includes overnight shifts. Regardless of when it starts, your shift begins with paperwork to brief you on prisoner counts and note any unusual occurrences during the previous shift. Many novice guards are surprised at the volume of paperwork they face, but working in a prison requires careful record-keeping and plenty of structure.

Your first interaction with inmates depends on your role and on the nature of the facility. If you're new to the job or work in a minimum-security prison, you might supervise the trustees, non-violent inmates assigned to kitchen duty, as they cook and serve meals. You may also patrol the halls or be in charge of monitoring doors, opening and closing them to let shifts of prisoners through for meals and exercise time.

After more time and training, your duties will expand. You may be in closer contact with prisoners in higher-risk situations such as outdoor exercise supervision. Prisoner transfers must also be overseen by guards, and that job typically goes to more experienced officers; transfers are a change in the routine of prison life, and some inmates use it as their opportunity to attempt an escape. You will likely conduct or supervise room searches. Even in a high-security prison, inmates find ways to get contraband or make weapons, and guards must find and remove these items.

You might be in charge of admitting new inmates into the prison, a process that could involve little more than the necessary paperwork and a thorough pat-down or might include a body cavity search and shower. Guards must be present for these events to ensure the inmates bring nothing dangerous into the prison, including inadvertent dangers such as body lice. You could also work at the other end of an inmate's time served and process prisoners for release.

Your day might include a visit with a counselor. Prison guards face unusual stresses in their line of work, and long-term correctional facilities now offer counseling for guards to help them put their challenging work in context.