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I work as a Correctional Officer for the state of Georgia. BTW Correctional Officer is the proper term. Most officers hate to be called guards. You have lots of options. There are many different uniforms. There are federal officers whose uniforms will all be pretty much the same. Then there are state officers and county officers. Many will wear similar uniforms just with different patches. But just like police uniforms differ from city to city there are a huge number of variations and types of uniforms. Most CO uniforms are just basic police uniforms (bought off the shelf so to speak) with patches appropriate to their department. Some officers in some departments also wear BDU's in black, blue, gray, green and possibly other colors. Also some departments will have special details like tactical squads that will wear a different uniform.

In GA the basic uniform is medium blue pants with a black stripe down each leg, black boots or shoes, a black belt approximately 2" wide, light blue short sleeve shirt with a state flag (w/department logo) on the left shoulder, US flag on the right, badge on the left breast and name tag on the right. For the belt order it really depends on what your assignment is. Usually it's just a radio, handcuffs and some type of clip to secure keys but could also include a baton, pepper spray and occasionally a sidearm (S&W .38 or a Glock .40). As far as caps are concerned they aren't required in my deptartment but we can wear a black baseball cap with or without a department logo. There are a number of police figures out there that could provide much of the gear you'd need. If you need more specific information just ask and I'll see if I can help.

 

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KidAkira, you're welcome. Before I replied I did a quick google image search hoping to find a site to point you to with pictures of CO uniforms but I found surprisingly little information. BTW if you do an image search you might want to set the preferences to filter out explicit images. I don't know why but prison seems to be a popular porn theme. Anyway if you do need further information feel free to ask and I'll answer what I can. I've been a CO for a long time but only in the state of GA so I'm far from being an expert.

 

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There has been some good info given by the other posters here but allow me to comment on some of the other replies.

As far as physical fitness is concerned, CO's are no different than the general population. You have people with all body types so practically any figure would be useable. You see the same thing with a lot of police departments. Many don't have a physical fitness program except for elite detachments like SWAT or Hostage Rescue. I would just use whatever I like unless I was bashing a particular person or if I was doing a scene with several officers. You could also use any ethnicity or possibly even a female figure.

As far as the sidearm issue is concerned you won't typically see sidearms inside a prison. However COs may also have duties that take them outside the prison and many of those will require a sidearm. We have armed transfer officers that transport inmates to different institutions. There are also outside detail officers that supervise inmates working outside the prison. They are armed with sidearms and shotguns. I work both inside and outside the prison. When I'm working outside I work as a perimeter security officer in a patrol car and I'm armed with a sidearm and a shotgun. Escape details and a few other duties would require weapons as well.