A prison officer (PO) or corrections officer (CO), also known as a correctional law enforcement officer or less formally as a prison guard, is a uniformed law enforcement official responsible for the custody, supervision, safety, and regulation of prisoners.
A turnkey of a Paris prison, 19th century A Russian jail with a prison guard, 1915
Historically, terms such as "jailer" (also spelled "gaoler"), "guard" and "warder"[1] have all been used.
The term "prison officer" is used for the role in the UK[2] and Ireland.[3] It is the official English title in Denmark,[4] Finland,[5] Sweden[6] and Poland.[7]
The term "corrections officer" or "correction officer" is used in the U.S.[8][9] and New Zealand.[10] "Detention officer" is used in the U.S.,[11] as is the term "penal officer".[12] The term "correctional police officer" or "CPO" is used in New Jersey. Due to the law enforcement status and authority of New Jersey's officers, New Jersey's officers employed by the Department of Corrections are classified as "police officers".[13][14]
Brazil has a similar system to New Jersey, but the officers are known as "state penal police agent" or "federal penal police agent".[15]
"Correctional officer" is used in Australia,[16] Canada,[17][18][19] Jamaica,[20] and the U.S.[21]
In Australia, prison officers were known as turnkeys until the 19th century after which they were known as warders until the late 20th century. Following this period they were known as prison officers and later correctional officers. A slang term for a prison officer throughout the British Empire was, and still is, 'screw'.[22][23]
The official who is in charge of a specific prison is known by various titles, including: "prison warden" (US and Canada), "governor" (UK and Australia), "superintendent" (South Asia) or "director" (New Zealand), respectively "Direktor" or "Gefängnisdirektor" (Germany).
Prison officers are responsible for the security of the facility and its property as well as other law enforcement functions.
Correction officers may assist police officers on/off duty depending on their peace officer status and jurisdiction.[24]
Most prison officers or corrections officers are employed by the government of the jurisdiction in which they operate, although some are employed by private companies that provide prison services to the government.
Training
Corrections officers' training will vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction as well as facility to facility depending on the legislated power given, the nature of the facilities, or even the socioeconomics of the region.
Training may be provided by external agencies or at the facility with a peer-group or supervisor instructor. In North America, standard training usually includes:
Most institutions in the United States have a crisis resolution team of some sort, though these vary in name:
Name
Abbreviation
Crisis Resolution Team
CRT
Special Response Team
SRT
Critical Incident Response Team
CIRT
Correctional Emergency Response Team
CERT
Crisis and Emergency Response Team
Correctional Emergency Unit
CEU
Special Security Team
SST
Disturbance Control Team
DCT
Special Operations And Response Team
SORT
Tactical Support Unit
TSU
These teams take on a role similar to a police SWAT or Special Weapons and Tactics team, but are tailored to the prison setting.
Though these vary greatly from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, they typically must pass a very physically and mentally demanding tactical academy or training course, often lasting a week or more.
Special units must qualify regularly and at shorter intervals than regular line staff to remain in the specialized position. They must also score in the 90th percentile or better of the standard scoring systems.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
