What are the pros and cons of being a correctional officer?

Pros:

• No two days are the same: One benefit is the constant activity and excitement the role can offer. In this position, you can expect to work with people from various backgrounds and situations and stay relatively active in your job duties. You can expect stimulation and diversity in your job.

• Importance of the work: Correctional officers ensure the health and safety of the inmates they supervise. Correctional officers can also help inmates on their journeys to rehabilitation, offering advice and guidance to those in vulnerable positions or awaiting trial. Officers have training in defense, security, and sometimes counseling

• You have defined work hours: As a correctional officer, you never take paperwork home. Once you leave the prison gates, you are done for the day. There is no take-home work, and you are never expected to work unpaid overtime.

• Career advancement opportunities: Corrections officers can work their way to becoming a lieutenant or supervisor. Corrections officers can also use their experience as a pathway to law enforcement. Many psychologists, counselors, and even social workers can use this experience as an addition to their resumes.

• Government Benefits: You are working for the government. As with most government jobs, like the military, you can retire at age 50 with 20 years on the job, or at any age with 25 years on the job.

Cons:

• It's a dangerous work environment: As a corrections officer, you are going to be breaking up fights often. You also risk being held by prisoners against your will. Moreover, due to the nature and location of your job, you are also at risk of contracting disease more easily.

• There are mental health concerns: Depression and PTSD are a concern for corrections officers. It can affect you to see people locked up daily, fighting their own battles with depression and suicide.

• Extensive Training: To become a correctional officer, candidates often have to complete relatively extensive training programs. While it can depend on the state where you receive your training, most programs take a few months to complete. They typically include defense training, education on regulations, and communication training.

• Working conditions can be dismal: You are working in a concrete environment with steel bars and doors, surrounded by barbed wire on the outside. You are working daily with people who are addicts, mentally deranged or damaged in general. You are not privy to the best food, and the people are generally miserable.