Career Explorer Protective services
Human edge, steady
Correctional officers and jailers
Guard inmates in penal or rehabilitative institutions in accordance with established regulations and procedures. May guard prisoners in transit between jail, courtroom, prison, or other point. Includes deputy sheriffs and police who spend the majority of their time guarding prisoners in correctional institutions.
In the middle of the pack: more resilient than 47% of the 831 careers we score. AI exposure is low (the Bureau of Labor Statistics rates it moderate), and US jobs are projected to change by -7.4% by 2035, expected to shrink. The work leans on ethical judgement and emotional intelligence.
AI struggles with much of this work. Hiring is expected to grow slower than average, or to shrink.
- Median pay (2025)
- $58,940
- Job growth to 2035
- -7.4%
- Openings a year
- 28,400
- People doing it (2025)
- 398,000
- Usual route in
- High school diploma, then moderate on-the-job training
Where people already use AI for this work
- Maintain safety or security
- Maintain current knowledge in area of expertise
- Communicate with others about operational plans or activities
From Microsoft Research, Working with AI (2025).
Work AI rarely helps with
- Record information about legal matters
- Monitor safety or security of work areas, facilities, or properties
- Supervise activities in correctional facilities
What the work looks like
- 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.
From O*NET 31.0, US Department of Labor.
What the Bureau of Labor Statistics expects
- Fewer of these jobs, as prison populations, and the reliance on private prisons, are expected to decline.
- Fewer of these jobs, as local governments seek to reduce prison populations.
Careers using similar strengths, with a stronger outlook
- Animal control workersHuman edge, growing, Index 75, +4.0%
- Police and sheriff's patrol officersGrows with AI, Index 62, +3.5%
- First-line supervisors of protective service workers, all otherHuman edge, steady, Index 57, +1.9%
- Forest fire inspectors and prevention specialistsHuman edge, growing, Index 99, +13.1%
Also known as: Correctional Officer, Corrections Officer (CO), Detention Officer, Jailer, Booking Officer, Community Services Officer (CSO), Deputy Jailer, Detention Deputy.
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Sources: US Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections 2025 to 2035; O*NET 31.0; Microsoft Research (2025); Anthropic Economic Index (2026); Eloundou and colleagues (Science, 2024); Felten, Raj and Seamans (2023). How we score. Updated 12 October 2026.