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Public service · Helping & Teaching

Correctional officer: what the job actually is

Keeping a provincial jail secure and safe, and dealing with the people held in it, shift after shift, including nights.

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Correctional officer: quick facts

Correctional officer salary in Ontario: the median pay is $39.00 an hour, according to Job Bank (reference period 2023-2024). Its three-year outlook in Ontario is moderate. The job usually needs a shorter college programme or apprenticeship, or over six months of on-the-job training.

Median pay in Ontario
$39.00 an hour
Pay range (low to high)
$29.43 to $48.08 an hour
Job outlook, 2025-2027
Moderate
People working in it in Ontario
7,900
Usually needs
Usually a shorter college programme or apprenticeship, or over six months of on-the-job training

Source: Job Bank wages (updated 19 November 2025) and job prospects (updated 10 December 2025), NOC 43201. Pay varies by region and experience.

The work

What this job actually is

  • Working inside a provincial correctional facility to keep inmates and staff safe, which includes searches, counts, supervising movement and responding when something goes wrong.
  • Ontario describes the job as managing inmates and supporting rehabilitation. In practice, a great deal of it is routine and talk: noticing small changes and keeping a tense place calm.
  • It is shift work. Ontario's page says you must be able to work rotating shifts, including days, afternoons and nights, and weekends and statutory holidays.
  • Provincial facilities hold people awaiting trial or serving short sentences. Federal prisons, which hold people serving longer sentences, are a separate employer with a separate hiring process.

A Tuesday

What a normal day looks like

Not a good day or a bad one. The ordinary version, which is what you would actually be living.

  1. 6:45 — Arrive, go through security, get a handover from the night shift. Anything unusual is passed on at this moment.
  2. 7:15 — Briefing, post assignments, check your equipment.
  3. 7:45 — Morning count. Everyone has to be accounted for, and it is repeated until the numbers match.
  4. 8:30 — Supervise breakfast and movement to programmes. Watch hands, faces and who is standing next to whom.
  5. 10:00 — A cell search. Methodical, unglamorous, and written up afterwards.
  6. 12:00 — Lunch supervision, then your own break, in a room where you may be called back at any moment.
  7. 13:30 — An inmate is upset after a phone call. Talk to them calmly and early, because that is cheaper than the alternative.
  8. 15:00 — Paperwork: log entries, incident notes, anything that might be read by a supervisor, a lawyer or a court.
  9. 15:30 — Handover to the next shift. You walk out through the same gates, and you leave the day behind or you do not.

Honestly

Who loves this, and who should not do it

The second list is the useful one. Nearly every careers page leaves it out, which is why nearly every careers page reads like an advert.

You may like this if
  • You stay calm under pressure and your voice gets quieter, not louder, when things get tense.
  • You are comfortable with firm rules and with enforcing them fairly, even on days you do not feel like it.
  • You can work with people who are angry, scared, or lying to you, and not take it personally.
  • You value a public sector job with training, structure and a union. Check the posting for what it says.
  • You are physically fit and willing to stay that way, since the application includes a fitness test.
You may hate this if
  • You want a regular schedule. Ontario's own page says rotating shifts, nights, weekends and holidays are part of the job.
  • Violence or the threat of it would stay with you. The job can involve confrontations, restraint and emergencies, and it is not a safe environment in the way an office is.
  • You dislike being around people who are distressed, hostile or in crisis for a whole shift, repeatedly.
  • You cannot switch off. People in this work often carry the shift home, and it can wear on relationships and sleep.
  • You hate waiting. The hiring process alone takes months, and Ontario says final decisions can take up to 12 months.

The route in

How you actually get there in Ontario

  1. Meet the basics

    From ontario.ca: you must be at least 18, have a Grade 12 diploma or an equivalency certificate, and hold or be able to obtain first aid, CPR and AED certification by your start date. Some designated bilingual positions need advanced-minus oral French.

  2. Apply through the Ontario Public Service careers site

    The steps listed are the written aptitude, cognitive and psychological tests; the fitness test (FITCO), which has a search station, an emergency response circuit and an aerobic shuttle run, after a medical screening; an interview; employment security screening at your cost; and a pre-employment medical exam at your cost.

  3. Complete the training programme

    Ontario lists an eight-week training programme with a stipend. Ontario gives up to six months for the recruitment stages and says final hiring decisions can take up to 12 months, so apply early and keep applying elsewhere.

  4. Know the other doors

    Probation and parole officer, border services officer and police officer all have their own processes. Our criminology and criminal justice guide compares what each asks for.

Where this comes from: Ontario.ca — Become a correctional officer · Job Bank — Correctional service officers requirements in Ontario

The money

Correctional officer salary in Ontario

Job Bank's own figures, quoted rather than summarised, with the period they describe — so you can tell how old they are and go and check them.

$29.43
Low (hourly)
$39.00
Median (hourly)
$48.08
High (hourly)

Ontario, NOC 43201. Reference period 2023-2024, last updated by Job Bank on 19 November 2025. Wages vary a lot by region inside Ontario and by how long you have been doing it — the low figure is roughly where you start, not what the job is worth.

Source: Job Bank — Correctional officer wages in Ontario

Where it is heading

The outlook for the next three years

Job Bank publishes a three-year outlook for every job in every province. It is the closest thing to an honest forecast, and it moves, so read it as a weather report rather than a verdict.

Ontario, 2025-2027

Moderate3 out of 5 stars

  • Employment growth will lead to a few new positions.
  • Not many positions will become available due to retirements.
  • There are a small number of unemployed workers with recent experience in this occupation.

What that rating means: how many openings Job Bank expects in Ontario for this kind of work against how many people are likely to be looking — not whether it is a good job. A “limited” rating means more competition for each opening; it does not close the door, and it can change before you are ready to walk through it.

What is changing in this work

  • The level of job creation usually depends on public sector spending in correctional facilities
  • Funding allocated to strengthen the capacity in correctional institutions, should add opportunities for these professionals during the forecast period

Who hires for it

  • Majority employed in public administration, mainly by the provincial government
  • The federal government accounts for the second highest share
7,900
people work in this job in Ontario
31%
are women (48% across all jobs)

Source: Job Bank — Correctional service officers job prospects in Ontario (NOC 43201). Outlook updated by Job Bank on 10 December 2025; read by us on 5 October 2026.

Before you leave school

Things you can do now

  • Get your first aid and CPR certification now if you can. Ontario's page asks for it by day one, and you cannot get it late.
  • Build fitness you can measure: the application includes a fitness test with a shuttle run and a response circuit.
  • Stay out of trouble in ways that show up on checks. Security screening is part of the process, so keep your record and your online life clean.
  • Do your volunteer hours somewhere you practise staying calm with upset people: a food bank, a youth programme, a hospital volunteer desk.

Test it

Do this before you decide anything

Reading about a job tells you almost nothing. This is designed to be done alone, this week, for free.

Test whether you stay steady when it is tense and boring at once

About 60 minutes
  1. Read Ontario's page on becoming a correctional officer from top to bottom, including the line about rotating shifts, nights and weekends. Write down how you feel about each requirement.
  2. Do a 20-minute shuttle-style run or a fast circuit of your own design, then immediately do a careful task such as counting items or checking a list for errors. Notice whether you stay accurate when tired.
  3. Write down the last time somebody was rude to you and what you did. Then write what you would do if that happened ten times in a shift.
  4. Ask a family member or adult you trust, with their agreement, whether they know anyone who works shifts, and what it did to their sleep and family time.

What it tells you. If the shift pattern and the idea of tense, repetitive vigilance sound manageable, this is worth pursuing, including the first aid certificate you can get now. If the nights, weekends and the pressure sound heavy on paper, trust that, because the job is that every week, not just the exciting parts.

Better than any article

Questions for somebody who does this job

Most people say yes to a teenager who asks good questions. These are the ones that get real answers rather than encouragement.

  1. “What does a normal shift feel like, and what is the hardest part you did not expect?”
  2. “How do you sleep and stay healthy on rotating shifts?”
  3. “What do you do on the days something goes wrong?”
  4. “What do you wish applicants understood before they applied?”
  5. “How has the job changed how you see people?”
  6. “What kind of person does well here, and what kind burns out?”

Could you own one of these?

The part other career sites never mention

No, not in any real sense. Correctional officers are employees of the province or the federal government. Some people move later into related private work such as consulting or training, but that is a different career built on this experience.

Business 101 is free and teaches that part

Quick answers

Questions people ask about this job

How much does a correctional officer make in Ontario?

The median pay for a correctional officer in Ontario is $39.00 an hour, according to Job Bank (reference period 2023-2024, updated 19 November 2025). The range Job Bank publishes runs from $29.43 to $48.08 an hour. Pay varies by region, employer and experience.

What is the job outlook for a correctional officer in Ontario?

Job Bank rates the employment outlook for this work in Ontario as moderate for 2025-2027 (updated 10 December 2025). Employment growth will lead to a few new positions. Not many positions will become available due to retirements. There are a small number of unemployed workers with recent experience in this occupation. A lower rating means more competition for each opening, not that no one is hiring.

What do you need to become a correctional officer in Ontario?

Job Bank says this work usually needs a shorter college programme or apprenticeship, or over six months of on-the-job training. The usual route in Ontario, in order: Meet the basics; Apply through the Ontario Public Service careers site; Complete the training programme.

Where does a correctional officer work in Ontario?

Majority employed in public administration, mainly by the provincial government. The federal government accounts for the second highest share. (Job Bank.)

How many people work as a correctional officer in Ontario, and how many are women?

Job Bank counts about 7,900 people working in this job in Ontario. 31% of them are women, compared with 48% across all jobs. That describes who does the work today, not who can.

Not sure this is the right list to be reading

Start from yourself, not from the job.

Future Finder is free, takes about ten minutes, needs no account and stores nothing. It will tell you which kinds of work you lean toward, and which of these pages are worth your time.

Try Future Finder — freeAll jobs

Parent of a teenager weighing this up? Career coaching for teens gets them talking to people who do the work, anywhere in Ontario.

If this appeals, look at these too

police officer border services officer social worker paralegal

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Wages and training requirements change. Every figure on this page is linked to the body that publishes it, and the review date above says when we last checked. If you find something out of date, tell us and we will fix it.