Correctional Officer (Correctional Counselor)

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.

Qualifications:

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

Education:

There is no substitution of education for specialized experience for this position.

Experience:

You must have at least one year of specialized experience equivalent in difficulty and complexity to the next lower grade in the normal line of progression. This experience must have equipped the applicant with the particular qualifications to successfully perform the duties of the position. Experience must have been gained in a correctional facility with responsibilities in correctional treatment, care, custody, and control of inmates.

Some examples of this qualifying experience are:

• Experience in work such as police officer, mental health counselor in a residential facility, or detention officer.
• Experience in coordinating matters pertaining to inmate personal property and trust fund activities and involvement in the BOP Intake Screening Process and the Administrative Remedy process.
• Experience in demonstrating the knowledge of institution policies on sanitation and security.
• Experience in conducting individual and group counseling sessions.

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.**

Responsibilities:

The Correctional Counselor develops and implements programs within the unit to meet the individual needs of the inmates confined, to include individual as well as group counseling. The Correctional Counselor may be assigned to either a general or specialized unit, and is usually assigned, along with one case manager, a specific caseload. The Correctional Counselor plays a key role in maintaining and enhancing the security of the unit and institution by their extensive contacts with the inmates.

Is an active member of the unit team and/or team classification meetings and makes recommendations at these meetings. Gathers data and prepares required reports as directed by the unit team to report on the inmate's progress during regularly scheduled progress reviews. Serves as a voting member of the Unit Discipline Committee and is certified in its procedures.

Serves as the unit expert and coordinator on matters pertaining to: (a) inmate personal property, including incoming and outgoing package approvals; and (b) trust fund activities, including inmate withdrawals and special purchase orders.

Along with all other correctional institution employees, incumbent is charged with responsibility for maintaining security of the institution. The staffs correctional responsibilities precede all others required by this position and are performed on a regular and recurring basis.