The Occupational Outlook Handbook 2000 describes the correctional officer s career as an exciting and open job field. Many correctional officers are employed in large State and Federal prisons. Some work in the county jails or detention centers. The duties of some correctional officers are maintain order, enforce rules, search inmates, settle disputes between inmates. Many officers work unarmed, but has access to restraints like handcuffs and leg irons.
Correctional officers work eight hour days, five days a week, and on rotating shifts.
Most institutions require that correctional officers be at least eighteen to twenty-one. They must have a high school education or equivalent, no felony convictions, and be a United States citizen. The officers must be in good health, meet physical fitness requirements, eyesight and hearing tests. If they work at the Federal or State levels, many are required to go to the Academy for further training. The officers are required to undergo two hundred hours of formal training within the first year of employment.