Husband is thinking of taking a job at the federal bureau of prisions?

interested in knowing some pros/cons like compensation and benefits, advancement opportunities etc.

As a retiree, I can tell you the pay is good, and the retirement is not bad either. However, working conditions are lousy. The BOP operates on a "good old boy" network. If you hire on and kiss up to the right people or are related to senior justice department people, you have it made. If they dont like you, your career will stagnate and you will end up a GS-8 tower guard for the entirity of your career. (I have seen that happen to a number of people). If he is willing to put up with being locked up with the dregs of society for 8 to 16 hours a day, playing politics, only seeing what he is told to, and having the government watching every aspect of his life like a hawk, then go for it. Just remember I told you "the bureau eats its own". If he is qualified for the BOP, he might consider the US marshals service. Good people to work with. The Air Marshalls program is always looking for good people. Advancement opportunity is much better and even at lower grades they make more money due to travel pay. The job is relatively low risk also. If I had the chance to go back and do it again, I would definitely opt for the marshalls. Additionally, many of the guys I know who still work for the BOP have told me it has gotten much worse since I retired in 2000. Lots of reductions in force and understaffing problems which make the prisons much more dangerous to work in. Now dont assume that I am some disgruntal employee down on the bureau, it did ok by me. But I saw what was going on and I did my best to avoid the clicks, political manuvering and blame game. I succeeded most of the time but thats a tricky tight rope to walk. Basically the bureau administration needs to be cleaned out. You dont even have to have a degree to be a warden, just the willingness to play the game. This has led to some pretty corrupt individuals being placed in some pretty high positions in the agency. Hopefully, one day OPM will fighre out what is going on and step in and eliminate the good old boy promotion system and replace it with something that resembles reason.

Check the site below. It has the information for you. BTW, the benefits are GREAT!