Senior Correctional Officer / Corporal

You've survived the first few years and now you're the one training the new officers who show up looking terrified. As a corporal, you run a housing unit or post, handle the daily crises that don't quite warrant a sergeant, and serve as the bridge between the officers on the floor and the brass upstairs. You know every inmate's name, every trouble spot in the facility, and exactly which doors stick when it's humid.

Learn the skills

Courses and certifications to get you job-ready

What you'll actually do

• 01Supervise a housing unit and make sure nobody's quietly starting a riot
• 02Train new officers who somehow thought this job was like the movies
• 03Conduct cell searches and contraband sweeps with increasing creativity
• 04Write detailed incident reports and review your officers' paperwork
• 05Coordinate inmate movements — medical, court, recreation, meals — without a single hiccup
• 06De-escalate situations before they become situations with paperwork
• 07Cover shifts because someone always calls out and overtime is 'optional'