Duties

Summary

Why work for the Federal Bureau of Prisons?

You can have a meaningful career with an agency that truly values a diverse workforce. You will find a diverse workforce employed from entry level jobs to senior management positions. We protect public safety by ensuring federal offenders serve their sentences of imprisonment in facilities that are safe, humane, and provide reentry programming. Employees at correctional facilities perform correctional work regardless of their specific occupation.

Learn more about this agency

Responsibilities

This position is located in the Correctional Systems Department at a Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) correctional facility. The Correctional Systems Department is a multi-faceted operation, consisting of Mail Room, Receiving and Discharge, and Records Office.

This position involves a wide range of duties that require knowledge in the following areas: institution mail; postal regulations; the receiving and discharge of inmates; inmate bus movement; processing of writs; handling of legal documents to include the interpretation of judgments for filing detainers; Interstate Agreement on Detainers (IAD); locator center procedures; temporary and final releases; release paperwork; file archiving; certification of records; correctional security procedures; and contact with a variety of law enforcement agencies.

Additionally, this position requires a general skill level in the areas of sentence computation, sentencing laws, court processes, and compliance with court directives in order to address inmate inquiries.

Along with all other correctional institution employees, incumbent is charged with responsibility for maintaining security of the institution. The staffs correctional responsibilities precede all others required by this position and are performed on a regular and recurring basis.

Travel Required

Occasional travel - Travel may be required for training and/or work related issues.

Supervisory status
No

Promotion Potential
08

Requirements

Conditions of Employment

• U.S. Citizenship is Required.
• See Special Conditions of Employment Section.

The Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) provides eligible surplus and displaced competitive service employees in the Department of Justice with selection priority over other candidates for competitive service vacancies. If your Department of Justice component has notified you in writing that you are a surplus or displaced employee eligible for CTAP eligibility, you may receive selection priority if: 1) this vacancy is within your CTAP eligibility; 2) you apply under the instructions in this announcement; and 3) you are found well qualified for this vacancy. To be well qualified, you must satisfy all qualification requirements for the vacant position and score 85 or better on established ranking criteria. You must provide a copy of your written notification of CTAP eligibility with your application. Additional information about CTAP eligibility is at: Click Here

Qualifications

To be considered for the position, you must meet the following qualification requirements:

Education:

There is no substitution of education for specialized experience for this position at this grade level.

OR

Experience:

You must have at least one year of specialized experience equivalent in difficulty and complexity to the next lower grade level in federal service. This experience must have equipped the applicant with the qualifications necessary to successfully perform the duties of the position.

Some examples of this qualifying experience are:

• Experience directly related to the various functions of the Mailroom and Receiving and Discharge areas; to include admission and release, physical processing, identification, coordination of prisoner transfers, security procedures, bus movement, final releases.
• Experience in supervising large groups of inmates in preparation for bus or airlift operations. This includes coordinating and carrying out various functions (i.e., visual searching, fingerprinting, photographing).
• Experience in carrying out the proper release of inmates who have completed their federal sentences; to include proper identification of inmates, review of clearances, fines, all forms of release paperwork, etc.
• Experience in coordinating exchanges of custody with federal and non-federal agencies.

Medical Requirement:

The Department of Justice, Bureau of Prisons has established the following medical requirements for Correctional Officer positions:

The duties of these positions involve unusual mental and nervous pressure, and require arduous physical exertion involving prolonged walking and standing, restraining of prisoners in emergencies, and participating in escape hunts. Applicants must be physically capable of performing efficiently the duties of these positions, and be free from such defects or disease as may constitute employment hazards to themselves or others. The duties of a Correctional Officer are arduous; and sound health as well as physical fitness is required.

If applicable, credit will be given for paid and unpaid experience. To receive proper credit, you must show the actual time (such as the number of hours worked per week) spent in activities.

**Your eligibility for consideration will be based on your responses to the questions in the application.**

Education

See Qualifications Section for education requirements, if applicable.

ONLY if education is a requirement/substitution for specialized experience, applicant MUST upload legible transcripts as verification of educational requirement. Transcripts MUST be uploaded and electronically linked from USAJOBS at the time you apply and MUST include identifying information to include School Name, Student Name, Degree and Date Awarded (if applicable). All academic degrees and coursework must be completed at a college or university that has obtained accreditation or pre-accreditation status from an accrediting body recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. For a list of schools that meet this criteria, Click Here .

Foreign Education: For information regarding foreign education requirements, please see Foreign Diploma and Credit Recognition at the U.S. Department of Education website: Recognition of Foreign Qualifications

If you are selected for this position and qualified based on education (i.e. basic education requirement and/or substitution of education), you will be required to provide an OFFICIAL transcript prior to your first day on duty.

Additional information

This position IS included in the bargaining unit.

In accordance with 5 U.S.C. 3307, a maximum entry age of 36 has been established for initial appointment to a position in a Bureau of Prisons institution.

The representative rate for this position is $56,442 per annum ($27.04 per hour).

Special Conditions of Employment Section:

Appointment is subject to satisfactory completion of a urinalysis, physical, and background investigation. All applicants are subject to National Crime Information Center (NCIC) and credit checks.

All applicants not currently working in an institution will be required to complete a qualification inquiry regarding convictions of misdemeanor crimes of domestic violence in order to be authorized to carry a firearm.

The Core Value Assessment (CVA) is an in-person assessment that must be facilitated at a Bureau of Prisons Human Resource Servicing office. On the day of the scheduled interview, a CVA will be administered. The applicant assessment must be completed within a 70 minute time period and a passing score must be obtained. Further employment consideration will not be extended if the applicant fails to complete the examination or fails to achieve a passing score. Note: The Core Value Assessment will not be administered to current BOP employees.

Successful completion of the "Introduction to Correctional Techniques," three-week training course at Glynco, Georgia is required.

The addresses listed on the USAJOBS account/resume must be the primary residence at the time of application. You may be required to provide proof of residence.

Additional selections may be made if vacancies occur within the life of the certificate.

As required by Executive Order 14043, Federal employees are required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 regardless of the employee's duty location or work arrangement (e.g., telework, remote work, etc.), subject to such exceptions as required by law. If selected, you will be required to be vaccinated against COVID-19 and submit documentation of proof of vaccination by November 22, 2021 or before appointment or onboarding with the agency, if after November 22. The agency will provide additional information regarding what information or documentation will be needed and how you can request of the agency a legally required exception from this requirement.

How You Will Be Evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

If your composite score exceeds the average score for this job, your resume and supporting documentation will be compared to your online assessment questionnaire responses and utilized to determine whether you meet the job qualifications listed in this announcement. If you rate yourself higher than what is supported by your application materials, your responses may be adjusted and/or you may be excluded from consideration for this job. If you are found to be among the top candidates, you will be referred to the selecting official for employment consideration.

There are several parts of the application process that affect the overall evaluation of your application:

• Your resume, which is part of your USAJOBS profile;
• Your responses to the eligibility questions;
• Your responses to the online assessment questionnaire;
• Your supporting documentation, if required.

Time-in-Grade: Federal employees must meet time-in-grade requirements for consideration. You must meet all qualification requirements upon the closing date of this announcement.

What Competencies/Knowledge Skills and Abilities are Required for this Position?

The following Competencies/Knowledge Skills and Abilities (KSA's) are required:

• Ability to communicate orally.
• Ability to communicate in writing.
• Ability to work with data on a computer.
• Ability to interpret and apply regulations, rules, and laws related to the incarceration of inmates.
• Knowledge of acceptable security practices related to mail room and receiving and discharge (R&D) operations.
• Ability to organize and maintain record and filing systems.
• Ability to supervise inmates/participants, including large groups of inmates.

To preview questions please click here .

Background checks and security clearance

Security clearance
Other

Drug test required
Yes

Required Documents

• Resume showing relevant experience (cover letter optional).
• In order to receive credit for experience contained in an uploaded resume, your employment history must be documented in month/year format (MM/YYYY), reflecting starting date and ending date and include the number of hours worked per week. Failure to follow this format may result in disqualification.
• Current or former Federal employees NOT employed by the Bureau of Prisons MUST submit a copy of their SF-50 Form which shows competitive service appointment, tenure group, and salary. If you have promotion potential in your current position, please provide proof. If you are applying for a higher grade, and your experience was gained at a Federal agency other than the Bureau of Prisons, you MUST provide the SF-50 Form which verifies the length of time you have been in your highest grade and supports your claim for time in grade.
• Employees applying with an interchange agreement must provide proof of their permanent appointment.
• Current federal employees NOT employed by the BOP and former federal employees MUST submit a copy of their latest yearly performance appraisal/evaluation.
• CTAP, Click Here , if applicable.

Failure to provide these documents could possibly result in removal from consideration for this vacancy. If uploading documentation, do not identify/save your documents utilizing a special character such as %, #, @, etc. Documentation should be identified/saved as VA Letter, DD214, or Transcripts.

We cannot be held responsible for incompatible software, delays in mail service, applicant application errors, etc.

If you are relying on your education to meet qualification requirements:

Education must be accredited by an accrediting institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education in order for it to be credited towards qualifications. Therefore, provide only the attendance and/or degrees from schools accredited by accrediting institutions recognized by the U.S. Department of Education .

Failure to provide all of the required information as stated in this vacancy announcement may result in an ineligible rating or may affect the overall rating.