Running jails and prisons safely, and helping people on probation, parole, and release rebuild their lives.
Top pay: highest pay, longest training
Prison Warden: Runs an entire prison or jail: security, staff, programs, budgets, and safety for everyone inside. Typical pay $125k.
Correctional Psychologist: Provides mental health treatment and assessments for people in prison. Typical pay $112k.
State Corrections Commissioner: Leads an entire state prison system, often with tens of thousands of staff and incarcerated people. Typical pay $170k.
Parole Board Member: Decides whether people in prison are ready to be released early on parole. Typical pay $120k.
Mid pay: solid pay, degree or apprenticeship
Correctional Officer: Supervises people in prison, keeping order and safety for inmates and staff. Typical pay $58k.
Federal Correctional Officer: A corrections officer in the federal Bureau of Prisons, with federal law enforcement retirement benefits. Typical pay $68k.
Correctional Sergeant / Lieutenant: Supervises correctional officers on a shift and manages incidents inside a facility. Typical pay $72k.
Probation Officer: Supervises people sentenced to probation instead of jail, helping them stay out of trouble. Typical pay $65k.
Parole Officer: Supervises people released from prison and helps them reenter society. Typical pay $66k.
Correctional Industries Supervisor: Runs a prison workshop where incarcerated people make goods like furniture or license plates. Typical pay $62k.
Prison Gang Intelligence Investigator: Tracks gangs and criminal networks inside prisons, decoding messages and preventing violence and drug smuggling. Typical pay $75k.
PREA Compliance Coordinator: Makes sure a prison or jail follows federal rules to prevent sexual abuse of incarcerated people. Typical pay $75k.
Prison Farm Manager: Runs the farms, dairies and cattle herds some prisons operate, supervising incarcerated workers who raise food for the prison system. Typical pay $65k.
Conservation Camp Fire Captain: Leads a hand crew of incarcerated firefighters, training them and supervising them on the fireline during California wildfires. Typical pay $95k.
Starter: fastest way in
Jail Detention Officer: Supervises people held in a county or city jail, many awaiting trial. Typical pay $50k.
Juvenile Detention Officer: Supervises and mentors teenagers held in juvenile detention centers. Typical pay $46k.
Reentry Specialist: Helps people leaving prison find housing, jobs, IDs, and support so they don't return. Typical pay $48k.
Electronic Monitoring Specialist: Installs ankle monitors and watches GPS alerts for people on house arrest or pretrial release. Typical pay $45k.
Prisoner Transport Officer: Safely moves people in custody between jails, prisons, courts, and hospitals, sometimes across states. Typical pay $50k.
Prison Dog Program Coordinator: Runs programs where incarcerated people raise and train puppies to become service dogs, bomb dogs, or adoptable pets. Typical pay $46k.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.