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Date: 04/09/2025

Correctional Officers and Jailers

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.

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  • Work Activities
  • Skills
  • WorkKeys®
  • Abilities
  • Knowledge
  • Career Video
  • Pay
  • Ohio Employment Trends
  • Typical Education
  • Personality
  • Tools
  • Technology
  • Tags
  • Guard facility entrances to screen visitors.
  • Participate in required job training.
  • 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.
  • Inspect conditions of locks, window bars, grills, doors, and gates at correctional facilities to ensure security and help prevent escapes.
  • Search for and recapture escapees.
  • Supervise and coordinate work of other correctional service officers.
  • Take fingerprints of arrestees, prisoners, or the general public.
  • 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.
  • Assign duties to inmates, providing instructions as needed.
  • Use weapons, handcuffs, and physical force to maintain discipline and order among prisoners.
  • Search prisoners and vehicles and conduct shakedowns of cells for valuables and contraband, such as weapons or drugs.
  • Process or book convicted individuals into prison.
  • Inspect mail for the presence of contraband.
  • Arrange daily schedules for prisoners, including library visits, work assignments, family visits, and counseling appointments.
  • Drive passenger vehicles and trucks used to transport inmates to other institutions, courtrooms, hospitals, and work sites.
  • Conduct fire, safety, and sanitation inspections.
  • Investigate crimes that have occurred within an institution, or assist police in their investigations of crimes and inmates.
  • Conduct fire, safety, and sanitation inspections.
  • Issue clothing, tools, and other authorized items to inmates.
  • Sponsor inmate recreational activities, such as newspapers and self-help groups.
  • Take prisoners into custody and escort to locations within and outside of facility, such as visiting room, courtroom, or airport.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Settle disputes between inmates.
  • Conduct fire, safety, and sanitation inspections.

Work Activities

Work Activities

  • Guard facility entrances to screen visitors.
  • Participate in required job training.
  • 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.
  • Inspect conditions of locks, window bars, grills, doors, and gates at correctional facilities to ensure security and help prevent escapes.
  • Search for and recapture escapees.
  • Supervise and coordinate work of other correctional service officers.
  • Take fingerprints of arrestees, prisoners, or the general public.
  • 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.
  • Assign duties to inmates, providing instructions as needed.
  • Use weapons, handcuffs, and physical force to maintain discipline and order among prisoners.
  • Search prisoners and vehicles and conduct shakedowns of cells for valuables and contraband, such as weapons or drugs.
  • Process or book convicted individuals into prison.
  • Inspect mail for the presence of contraband.
  • Arrange daily schedules for prisoners, including library visits, work assignments, family visits, and counseling appointments.
  • Drive passenger vehicles and trucks used to transport inmates to other institutions, courtrooms, hospitals, and work sites.
  • Conduct fire, safety, and sanitation inspections.
  • Investigate crimes that have occurred within an institution, or assist police in their investigations of crimes and inmates.
  • Conduct fire, safety, and sanitation inspections.
  • Issue clothing, tools, and other authorized items to inmates.
  • Sponsor inmate recreational activities, such as newspapers and self-help groups.
  • Take prisoners into custody and escort to locations within and outside of facility, such as visiting room, courtroom, or airport.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Settle disputes between inmates.
  • Conduct fire, safety, and sanitation inspections.

Skills

  • Active Learning

    Figuring out how to use new ideas or things.

  • Science

    Using scientific rules and strategies to solve problems.

  • Persuasion

    Talking people into changing their minds or their behavior.

  • Monitoring

    Keeping track of how well people and/or groups are doing in order to make improvements.

  • Service Orientation

    Looking for ways to help people.

  • Learning Strategies

    Using the best training or teaching strategies for learning new things.

  • Negotiation

    Bringing people together to solve differences.

  • Systems Analysis

    Figuring out how a system should work and how changes in the future will affect it.

  • Systems Evaluation

    Measuring how well a system is working and how to improve it.

  • Judgment and Decision Making

    Thinking about the pros and cons of different options and picking the best one.

  • Reading Comprehension

    Reading work-related information.

  • Mathematics

    Using math to solve problems.

  • Complex Problem Solving

    Noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it.

  • Time Management

    Managing your time and the time of other people.

  • Operations Analysis

    Figuring out what a product or service needs to be able to do.

  • Operation and Control

    Using equipment or systems.

  • Technology Design

    Making equipment and technology useful for customers.

  • Critical Thinking

    Thinking about the pros and cons of different ways to solve a problem.

  • Installation

    Installing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs.

  • Programming

    Writing computer programs.

  • Active Listening

    Listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions.

  • Management of Personnel Resources

    Selecting and managing the best workers for a job.

  • Social Perceptiveness

    Understanding people's reactions.

  • 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.

  • Management of Financial Resources

    Making spending decisions and keeping track of what is spent.

  • Quality Control Analysis

    Testing how well a product or service works.

  • Coordination

    Changing what is done based on other people's actions.

  • Equipment Selection

    Deciding what kind of tools and equipment are needed to do a job.

  • Instructing

    Teaching people how to do something.

  • Operations Monitoring

    Watching gauges, dials, or display screens to make sure a machine is working.

  • Repairing

    Repairing machines or systems using the right tools.

  • Management of Material Resources

    Managing equipment and materials.

  • Writing

    Writing things for co-workers or customers.

  • Speaking

    Talking to others.

WorkKeys®

Applied Math
3
Workplace Documents
4
Graphic Literacy
4

Abilities

  • Information Ordering

    Ordering or arranging things.

  • Selective Attention

    Paying attention to something without being distracted.

  • Rate Control

    Changing when and how fast you move based on how something else is moving.

  • Static Strength

    Lifting, pushing, pulling, or carrying.

  • Dynamic Strength

    Exercising for a long time without your muscles getting tired.

  • Dynamic Flexibility

    Quickly and repeatedly bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching out with your body, arms, and/or legs.

  • Hearing Sensitivity

    Telling the difference between sounds.

  • Extent Flexibility

    Bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching with your body, arms, and/or legs.

  • Oral Comprehension

    Listening and understanding what people say.

  • Visualization

    Imagining how something will look after it is moved around or changed.

  • Wrist-Finger Speed

    Making fast, simple, repeated movements of your fingers, hands, and wrists.

  • Gross Body Equilibrium

    Keeping your balance or staying upright.

  • Sound Localization

    Noticing the direction that a sound came from.

  • Fluency of Ideas

    Coming up with lots of ideas.

  • Peripheral Vision

    Seeing something to your side when your are looking ahead.

  • Mathematical Reasoning

    Choosing the right type of math to solve a problem.

  • Manual Dexterity

    Holding or moving items with your hands.

  • Speed of Closure

    Quickly knowing what you are looking at.

  • Flexibility of Closure

    Seeing hidden patterns.

  • Written Comprehension

    Reading and understanding what is written.

  • Stamina

    Exercising for a long time without getting out of breath.

  • Night Vision

    Seeing at night or under low light.

  • Time Sharing

    Doing two or more things at the same time.

  • Finger Dexterity

    Putting together small parts with your fingers.

  • Control Precision

    Quickly changing the controls of a machine, car, truck or boat.

  • Auditory Attention

    Paying attention to one sound while there are other distracting sounds.

  • Written Expression

    Communicating by writing.

  • Speed of Limb Movement

    Quickly moving your arms and legs.

  • Trunk Strength

    Using your lower back and stomach.

  • Gross Body Coordination

    Moving your arms, legs, and mid-section together while your whole body is moving.

  • Originality

    Creating new and original ideas.

  • Problem Sensitivity

    Noticing when problems happen.

  • Deductive Reasoning

    Using rules to solve problems.

  • Category Flexibility

    Grouping things in different ways.

  • Speech Recognition

    Recognizing spoken words.

  • Memorization

    Remembering words, numbers, pictures, or steps.

  • Perceptual Speed

    Quickly comparing groups of letters, numbers, pictures, or other things.

  • Oral Expression

    Communicating by speaking.

  • Arm-Hand Steadiness

    Keeping your arm or hand steady.

  • Visual Color Discrimination

    Noticing the difference between colors, including shades and brightness.

  • Speech Clarity

    Speaking clearly.

  • Glare Sensitivity

    Seeing something even if there is a glare or very bright light.

  • Response Orientation

    Quickly deciding if you should move your hand, foot, or other body part.

  • Reaction Time

    Quickly moving your hand, finger, or foot based on a sound, light, picture or other command.

  • Explosive Strength

    Jumping, sprinting, or throwing something.

  • Far Vision

    Seeing details that are far away.

  • Inductive Reasoning

    Making general rules or coming up with answers from lots of detailed information.

  • Depth Perception

    Deciding which thing is closer or farther away from you, or deciding how far away it is from you.

  • Multilimb Coordination

    Using your arms and/or legs together while sitting, standing, or lying down.

  • Number Facility

    Adding, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing.

  • Near Vision

    Seeing details up close.

  • Spatial Orientation

    Knowing where things are around you.

Knowledge

  • Transportation

    Knowledge of principles and methods for moving people or goods by air, rail, sea, or road, including the relative costs and benefits.

  • Design

    Knowledge of design techniques, tools, and principles involved in production of precision technical plans, blueprints, drawings, and models.

  • Biology

    Knowledge of plant and animal organisms, their tissues, cells, functions, interdependencies, and interactions with each other and the environment.

  • History and Archeology

    Knowledge of historical events and their causes, indicators, and effects on civilizations and cultures.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • Production and Processing

    Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.

  • Food Production

    Knowledge of techniques and equipment for planting, growing, and harvesting food products (both plant and animal) for consumption, including storage/handling techniques.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • Fine Arts

    Knowledge of the theory and techniques required to compose, produce, and perform works of music, dance, visual arts, drama, and sculpture.

  • 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.

  • Law and Government

    Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.

  • English Language

    Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.

  • 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.

  • Mathematics

    Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.

  • Sociology and Anthropology

    Knowledge of group behavior and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures, and their history and origins.

  • 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.

  • Telecommunications

    Knowledge of transmission, broadcasting, switching, control, and operation of telecommunications systems.

  • 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.

  • Economics and Accounting

    Knowledge of economic and accounting principles and practices, the financial markets, banking, and the analysis and reporting of financial data.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • Mechanical

    Knowledge of machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance.

Career Video

Additional videos and more information available on CareerOneStop

Pay

  • Typical Salary
  • $63,770
    $56,530
    $43,070
    Ohio
    US
    $87,250
    $53,300
    $38,340
  • Typical Hourly Wage
  • $31
    $27
    $21
    Ohio
    US
    $42
    $26
    $18

Ohio Employment Trends

  • Currently Employed 12,480
  • Yearly Projected Openings 1010

Typical Education

Personality

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

Tools

  • 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

Technology

  • 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

Tags

  • InDemand occupations are considered a priority by the state of Ohio.
  • Apprenticeships are available for this occupation. These programs can help you get hands-on experience and build your skills.
Need help on researching occupations and careers? Download the Guide to Researching Occupations (PDF).

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