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A prison officer has to wear many hats, which means one has to serve starting form a social worker to a psychologist's and a guard.

An important part of prison officer's job is covered by control and surveillance. One of the duties is to create socially and physically safe circumstances for serving the sentence, which also means maintaining order in the ward. They search inmates and their cell also after and before inmates leave their cells. Why do they do it? Because, a prison officer's job is also to detect and prevent any incidents concerning drugs, because there is an increasing rise in drug offences and drug related incidences. It is a real challenge to the prison staff to deal with drug situation. Drug offences also inside prisons are connected to different by-products, like blackmailing, intimidation, fights, physical threats both for the prison staff and co-inmates.

A prison officer has to be good at communicating, thus while they interact with prisoners they also learn to know them well which is an advantage for the better security of the penal institution.

When an inmate arrives at the prison, it is the prison officer's task to provide the new inmate with necessary information about the rules of the prison and prisoner's right and duties. As it is important how and how quickly an inmate adapts to the new environment, there is a prison officer to help with councelling which also involves learning about and supporting prisoner's interests and activities. They have to be aware of inmate's religion and cultural differences, as well.

A prison officer has a complex challenge - to maintain order, close relationships with those in their charge and balanced communication with inmates. The latter is very important in prisons, because a lot of prisoners suffer form social problems, worries concerning children and families.

A prison officer takes care of the daily activities in prison, such as meals, studies, free-time activities, lodging, and so on, including transport to court, hospitals and other places. A prison officer also looks after the inmates' state of health and the stability to cope with daily life and provides expert help when needed. He or she also helps to examine the work ability of inmates. All this information and knowledge helps to plan the sentence and release of the inmate.

In general a prison officer has to undertake several duties, such as:

• to take care of prisoners and their property (in relation to their rights and dignity)
• to carry out security checks and search both the cells and inmates, both complete or incomplete searches
• to supervise prisoners and to keep account of prisoners in his/her charge
• to maintaining order
• to use authorized physical control and restraint procedures when and where appropriate
• to provide appropriate care and support for prisoners who might harm themselves
• to promote anti-bullying and suicide prevention policies
• to participate in rehabilitation programmes for prisoners
• to assess and advise prisoners, using own experiences and integrity
• to write fair reports on prisoners.