prison officer
Prison officers supervise inmates in a correctional facility and ensure the security and peace-keeping in the facility. They perform checks and searches to ensure compliance to regulations, monitor visitations and the activities of inmates as well as participate in programs of rehabilitation, and ensure records maintenance.
prison officer prison officers supervise inmates in a correctional facility and ensure the security and peace-keeping in the facility. The role shows moderate AI exposure (0.50 on a 0-1 scale) — some tasks are being automated but the role adapts. The most in-demand skills for the role include law enforcement, legal use-of-force, illegal substances, correctional procedures, restrain individuals.
Pay in the UK
UK: median £41,287 a year for Prison service officers (below principal officer) (ONS ASHE 2025, full-time)
UK jobs are grouped differently; this is the closest UK occupation group (ONS SOC 2020 3314). ONS rates this estimate acceptable: it rests on a small sample, so treat it as a rough guide. 2025 provisional figures; ONS revises them a year later. Source: ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (Open Government Licence)
Pay in India (occupation group)
Average monthly earnings of salaried employees in the occupation group “Service and sales workers” in India, from the Government of India's Periodic Labour Force Survey (January–December 2025). It covers everyone in this group, not only prison officer, and it is not US pay converted to rupees.
Source: MoSPI (Government of India), Periodic Labour Force Survey Annual Report 2025, Table 51 — average wage/salary earnings of regular wage/salaried employees, NCO-2015 division 5. Official India data gives one average per occupation group: there are no official India figures for single careers, experience levels or cities. Read the report
Top skills
Knowledge you'll build
- Public Safety and Security
- English Language
- Law and Government
- Customer and Personal Service
- Administration and Management
- Computers and Electronics
- Psychology
- Administrative
What you'd actually do
- 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.
- 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.
- Search prisoners and vehicles and conduct shakedowns of cells for valuables and contraband, such as weapons or drugs.
- Guard facility entrances to screen visitors.
- Record information, such as prisoner identification, charges, and incidents of inmate disturbance, keeping daily logs of prisoner activities.
Tools & technology you'd use
Frequently asked questions
What does prison officer do?
Prison officers supervise inmates in a correctional facility and ensure the security and peace-keeping in the facility. They perform checks and searches to ensure compliance to regulations, monitor visitations and the activities of inmates as well as participate in programs of rehabilitation, and ensure records maintenance.
What skills does prison officer need?
The most in-demand skills for this role include law enforcement, legal use-of-force, illegal substances, correctional procedures, restrain individuals, undertake inspections. These are the skills O*NET identifies as most important for competent performance.
Will AI replace prison officer?
Our AI-durability model gives prison officer a score of 0.50 on a 0-1 scale (higher = more exposure). That places it at moderate AI exposure — some tasks are being automated but the role adapts. Learning to work with AI tools rather than against them is the path forward.