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Boston Career Explorer

Protective Service

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.

Also called: Booking Officer, Community Services Officer (CSO), Correctional Officer, Corrections Officer (CO), Deputy Jailer, Detention Deputy

Median pay in Greater Boston
$89,060
$42.82/hr
Jobs in Greater Boston
4,510
Massachusetts 2024–2034
−3.9%
580 openings a year
Typical U.S. entry requirement
High school diploma or equivalent
plus Moderate-term on-the-job training

Greater Boston: Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH metro area, May 2025. Growth and openings: Massachusetts statewide projection.

Pay range in Greater Boston

Yearly pay in Greater Boston by percentile
10th25thMedian75th90th
$65,030$76,150$89,060$91,980$101,620

10% of workers earn less than the first figure and 10% earn more than the last.

What you’d 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.

AI and this job

AI exposure: how much of this job’s work AI tools can do or help with, based on national research. It is not a forecast of job loss.

Lower exposure30 of 100

The index averages three national research measures, each shown as a percentile of all jobs:

  • AIOE 20
  • Language-model AIOE 28
  • GPTs-are-GPTs 42

Observed AI use today: Little or none (Anthropic Economic Index)

AI exposure for this job is on the lower side, and little AI use has been seen so far. AI tools may help with routine tasks like keeping counts and records. They do not do the hands-on work of checking locks, searching cells, and watching over people in person. Massachusetts job openings are projected to shrink by 3.9% from 2024 to 2034.

Likely to change

  • Head counts and record-keeping
  • Screening visitors at entrances

Still relies on people

  • Searching cells and people in person
  • Keeping order and preventing violence

Written with AI from the data on this page. Check with a career coach before making a decision.

Next steps from here

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Training near Boston

College and school programs in the Boston metro area that lead to this job, with 2023-24 completions (IPEDS).

4 programs near Boston (plus 2 graduate)

Related occupations

Talk to a career coach

A coach at the Office of Workforce Development can help you plan your next step, and connect you with training, apprenticeships and City partner programs that are not listed here.

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