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Prison officers supervise people who are in prisons, remand centres and young offenders' institutions.
You could work: evenings / weekends / bank holidays; on shifts
As a prison officer, you could:
You may need to wear a uniform.
You could work in a prison.
Your working environment may be physically and emotionally demanding.
You can get into this job through an apprenticeship or by applying directly.
You could apply to do a Custody and Detention Professional Level 3 Advanced Apprenticeship.
To do this apprenticeship, you'll need:
You could apply directly to be a prison officer. You do not need qualifications as personal qualities are more important in this role.
You'll need to take an online test to check your judgement and number skills.
If you pass, you'll attend an assessment day where you'll be tested on your:
You'll also have an interview and take part in role play to see if you have the right personal qualities to be a prison officer.
You'll need to:
You can do the HM Prison and Probation Service online career matching tool to see whether a career as a prison officer is right for you.
You can find out more about how to become a prison officer from HM Prison and Probation Service.
With experience you could:train and move into specialist projects like rehabilitation work with groups of prisoners and their families; become a supervising officer or custodial manager, or head of function, like prison security or reoffending reduction; move up to become a deputy governor or prison governor
You can find out more about how to become a prison officer from HM Prison & Probation Service.