Prison officer vs correction officer

The differences between prison officers and correction officers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a prison officer has an average salary of $43,925, which is higher than the $39,369 average annual salary of a correction officer.

The top three skills for a prison officer include security checks, incident reports and . The most important skills for a correction officer are public safety, correctional facility, and emergency situations.

Prison officer vs correction officer overview

	Prison Officer	Correction Officer
Yearly salary	$43,925	$39,369
Hourly rate	$21.12	$18.93
Growth rate	-10%	-10%
Number of jobs	57,229	103,383
Job satisfaction	-	3
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 33%	High School Diploma, 30%
Average age	40	40
Years of experience	-	-

Prison officer vs correction officer salary

Prison officers and correction officers have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Prison Officer	Correction Officer
Average salary	$43,925	$39,369
Salary range	Between $33,000 And $58,000	Between $28,000 And $54,000
Highest paying City	-	Urban Honolulu, HI
Highest paying state	-	Hawaii
Best paying company	-	Careerstaff Unlimited - A Genesis Healthcare Company
Best paying industry	-	Government

Differences between prison officer and correction officer education

There are a few differences between a prison officer and a correction officer in terms of educational background:

	Prison Officer	Correction Officer
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 33%	High School Diploma, 30%
Most common major	Criminal Justice	Criminal Justice
Most common college	-	-

Prison officer vs correction officer demographics

Here are the differences between prison officers' and correction officers' demographics:

	Prison Officer	Correction Officer
Average age	40	40
Gender ratio	Male, 82.1% Female, 17.9%	Male, 62.5% Female, 37.5%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 17.4% Unknown, 5.2% Hispanic or Latino, 13.1% Asian, 2.3% White, 61.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.9%	Black or African American, 16.0% Unknown, 5.3% Hispanic or Latino, 18.4% Asian, 2.0% White, 57.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.0%
LGBT Percentage	6%	6%

Differences between prison officer and correction officer duties and responsibilities

Prison officer example responsibilities.

Complete fire safety, CPR, self-defense and investigation/observation training, along with behavioral awareness/management training.
Serve as loader of special ammunition weapon; prepare ammunition while exercising safety precautions.

Correction officer example responsibilities.

Manage behavior modification and offender restoration rehabilitation.
Implement defensive tactics and physical restraints to maintain the safety and security of the general public.
Conduct NCIC background reports on all new inmates within the facility.
Collect felony DNA enter finger prints into live scan for NCIC.
finger prints and background information and placement in to the pod )
Feed, book-in inmates, control movement and supervise medical treatment.

Prison officer vs correction officer skills

Common prison officer skills

Security Checks, 58%
Incident Reports, 42%

Common correction officer skills

Public Safety, 27%
Correctional Facility, 11%
Emergency Situations, 9%
Security Checks, 5%
Incident Reports, 5%
CPR, 5%

Prison Officer vs. similar jobs

Prison Officer related careers

Prison Officer related jobs

What similar roles do

Zippia Careers
Protective Service Industry
Prison Officer
Prison Officer vs Correction Officer

Updated January 8, 2025

Browse protective service jobs