Correctional Officer

U.S. Department of Justice; Yazoo City (MS); On-site; USD 40,000 - 50,000; Full time

Job summary

Join the U.S. Department of Justice as a Correctional Officer, where you will oversee inmate care and security in a federal prison. This role demands strong leadership, decision-making skills, and the ability to remain calm under pressure. You will ensure compliance with regulations while providing a safe environment for both staff and inmates. The position offers a meaningful career path within a respected federal agency committed to public safety and justice.

Qualifications

• Must have at least 3 years of general experience or relevant education.
• Experience in correctional work or law enforcement preferred.

Responsibilities

• Supervise and care for inmates in a correctional facility.
• Enforce rules and regulations governing inmate conduct.
• Respond to disturbances and emergencies.

Skills

Leadership

Persuasiveness

Decision Making

Calmness Under Stress

Education

Bachelor's Degree

Graduate Level Education in Criminal Justice

Job description

Why work for the Federal Bureau of Prisons?

You can have a meaningful career with an agency that truly values a diverse workforce. You will find a diverse workforce employed from entry level jobs to senior management positions. We protect public safety by ensuring federal offenders serve their sentences of imprisonment in facilities that are safe, humane, and provide reentry programming. Employees at correctional facilities perform correctional work regardless of their specific occupation.

Duties

Requirements

• U.S. Citizenship is Required.
• See Special Conditions of Employment Section.
• Selective Service Requirement: http://www.sss.gov

Qualifications

To be considered for the position, you must meet the following qualification requirements:

Education:

GL-05: Successful completion of a full 4-year course of study in any field leading to a bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university.

GL-06: Nine (9) semester hours or fourteen (14) quarter hours of graduate level education in a major study in criminal justice, social science, or other field related to this position.

GL-07: One full academic year of graduate education with major study in criminal justice, social science, or other field related to the position is qualifying for GL-07.

OR

Experience:

GL-05: At least 3 years of full-time general experience, one year of which was equivalent to the GL-04 grade level. This experience must have demonstrated the aptitude for acquiring the qualifications required for correctional work, and, in addition, demonstrate the possession of personal attributes important to the effectiveness of correctional officers, such as:

• Ability to meet and deal with people of differing backgrounds and behavioral patterns.
• Ability to be persuasive in selling and influencing ideas.
• Ability to lead, supervise, and instruct others.
• Sympathetic attitude towards the welfare of others.
• Ability to reason soundly and to think out practical solutions to problems.
• Ability to make decisions and act quickly, particularly under stress.
• Poise and self-confidence, and ability to remain calm during emergency situations.

General experience may have been gained in work such as:

• Social case work in a welfare agency or counseling in other types of organizations.
• Classroom teaching or instructing.
• Responsible rehabilitation work, e.g., in an alcoholic rehabilitation program.
• Supervising planned recreational activities or active participation in community action programs.
• Management or supervisory work in a business or other organization that included directing the work flow and/or direct supervision of others.
• Sales work, other than taking and filling orders as in over-the-counter sales.

GL-06: You must have at least one year of specialized experience equivalent in difficulty and complexity to the next lower grade level in federal service. This experience must have equipped the applicant with the particular qualifications and abilities to perform successfully the duties of the position, performing duties, such as, ensuring individuals confined in a correctional or mental health facility adhere to the rules and regulations; responding to domestic disturbances; or apprehending and arresting individuals violating the law.

Examples of occupations where specialized experience may have been gained:

• Correctional Officer
• Detention Officer
• Police Officer
• Border Patrol Agent
• State Trooper
• Sheriff
• Deputy Sheriff supervising inmates in a jail
• Mental Health Residential Facility Worker

Some examples of this qualifying experience are:

• Providing supervision, care and security of inmates and guidance to lower-graded Correctional Officers.
• Supervising inmates in living quarters and instructing them in proper housekeeping and sanitation.
• Experience working as a Police Officer responding to domestic disturbances and issuing citations for law violations.
• Experience in investigating crime scenes as a State Trooper.
• Experience as a Mental Health Worker in a Mental Health Lockdown facility.
• Enforcing rules and regulations governing facility security, inmate accountability and inmate conduct to ensure judicial sanctions are carried out and inmates remain in custody.

GL-07: You must have at least one year of specialized experience equivalent in difficulty and complexity to the next lower grade level in federal service. This experience must have equipped the applicant with the particular qualifications and abilities to perform successfully the duties of the position, performing duties, such as, the supervision of individuals confined in a correctional facility, the application of rules and regulations relative to a correctional institution, or guiding lower graded correctional officers.

Examples of occupations where specialized experience may have been gained:

• Correctional Officer
• Jailer
• Detention Officer
• Deputy Sheriff supervising inmates in a jail.
• Military Corrections (Brig, Internment/Resettlement Specialist, etc.

Some examples of this qualifying experience are:

• Providing supervision, care and security of inmates in a correctional environment.
• Experience supervising inmates throughout the institution and providing instructions related to institutional procedures and sanitation.
• Enforcing rules and regulations governing correctional institution security, inmate accountability and inmate conduct.
• Experience with conducting various count procedures of inmates.
• Experience working various correctional posts, assignments (such as Control Room, Rear-gate, Housing Units, etc.)

AND

Medical Requirement:

The Department of Justice, Bureau of Prisons has established the following medical requirements for Correctional Officer positions:

The duties of these positions involve unusual mental and nervous pressure, and require arduous physical exertion involving prolonged walking and standing, restraining of prisoners in emergencies, and participating in escape hunts. Applicants must be physically capable of performing efficiently the duties of these positions, and be free from such defects or disease as may constitute employment hazards to themselves or others. The duties of a Correctional Officer are arduous; and sound health as well as physical fitness is required.

If applicable, credit will be given for paid and unpaid experience. To receive proper credit, you must show the actual time (such as the number of hours worked per week) spent in activities.

**Your eligibility for consideration will be based on your responses to the questions in the application.**

About the company

The United States Department of Justice, also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice in the United States. It is equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries. The department was formed in 1870 during the Ulysses S. Grant administration, and administers several federal law enforcement agencies, including the U.S. Marshals Service, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the Drug Enforcement Administration. The DOJ is responsible for investigating instances of financial fraud, representing the U.S. government in legal matters, and running the federal prison system. The department is also responsible for reviewing the conduct of local law enforcement as directed by the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994.