For those who are actively searching for correctional officer jobs locally or anywhere in their home state only to discover that the department of corrections near you isn’t currently hiring or that you just missed out on the most recent job announcement. You may start to feel that locating a job, as a correctional officer is next to impossible.

Whatever you do, don’t lose hope! If you’ve visited our correctional officer job board, you will consistently see that there are thousands of jobs available across the country, but if you haven’t found the right job yet there may be some correctional officer employment opportunities you may have overlooked.

Correctional officer jobs in privately operated prison facilities are becoming increasingly more available as growth in the private prison industry continues year after year. Regardless of how you feel about private interests getting involved in the housing of prisoners and the building of detention facilities for profit, the fact remains that for those seeking employment as a corrections officer, this is a solid way to go.

The privately-owned prison industry accounts for approximately 10% of the 2.3million prisoners currently being held in the United States at a cost of 55 million dollars per year.  Companies that provide private prison services have seen a growth of roughly 1600% between 1990 and 2010. Private prisons have a strong presence in immigrant detention centers that mostly interact with undocumented immigrants as over 50% of these facilities are privately owned and operated.

There are a number of private prison operators in the United States but the two top companies are Corrections Corporation of America or (CCA) and The Geo Group, (GEO). Forty percent of the revenue that these companies receive is from the government for the housing of inmates and the operation of their private prison facilities. CCA is the largest private prison operator with about 67 facilities in the USA while The GEO Group has facilities both in the USA and internationally.

Both of these companies provide pay and benefits that are comparable with correctional officer jobs offered at the federal, state, and local levels with similar requirements and are generally offering available jobs in multiple states on a regular basis. So if you are seeking a correctional officer job, consider a position with a private prison facility in you area today.