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Jailor Vs Jailer, What’s The Correct One To Use?

Jailor Vs Jailer, What’s The Correct One To Use?

We always hear Jailer and Jailor to refer to the person who custody a prisoner, responsible for keeping the order, the care and the control of individuals.

We need to know that while both are nouns, jailor does not appear in dictionaries even though some countries use this word. On the other hand, jailer appears in dictionaries and has its definition.

What Are The Differences Between Jailor And Jailer?

Let’s begin with jailer. The jailer is a noun that its first use was in the 13th century, it refers to a correctional officer in charge of the security prison and the prisoners there. In some countries, it has another title. For instance, in Australia, Canada and Jamaica are correctional officers, but it is the same.

It is responsible for the care, custody, and control of the prison and the prisoners. The government and some private companies commonly hire those officers.They work with people who were found guilty and serving jail sentences or are awaiting trial. Those people could be kidnappers, murders, armed robbery, white-collar, drug dealing, and more crimes.

While jailor does not appear in the dictionary, it is considered a synonym of jailer, and it has almost the same pronunciation, but the correct one to use is jailer.

jailer outside of a prison cell

Duties Of A Jailer

The duties will depend on the state they are in, but most of the typical responsibilities are:

  • They process inmates as soon as they arrive at the prison.
  • Identify each prisoner and make their record with essential information.
  • Perform security procedures and concerns about them.
  • When a prisoner is released, they need to fill out another form correctly and give them his belongings.
  • Maintain the order in the jails.
  • Jailer Monitoring prisoners while they interact with each other.
  • They ensure that all doors are closed at the appropriate time.
  • Take disciplinary actions if prisoners break the rules.
  • Do random inspections.
  • Initiate a look down if it is necessary.

Jailer skills:

  • Observational
  • Leadership
  • Team collaboration
  • Physical strength and stamina
  • Communication skill

Those are some essential qualities that a jailer has to need, because where they work is tougher than regular jobs.

Are Jailers And Correctional Officers The Same?

Most people think they are different jobs, but it also is the same. A correctional officer is the title of a person who guards prisoners in jail, whether in penal, federal, or state prison. They are in charge of keeping the regulations, monitoring, and supervising what is happening around the jail.

Correctional Officer Duties

This job as anyone has duties, some of the are in the list below:

  • Enforce prison or jail rules.
  • Supervise the activities between prisoners.
  • Escort and transport prisoners.
  • Break up physical interactions when it is necessary.
  • Inspect the security and safety standards.
  • Monitor and report the conduct of the prisoners.

There are many duties but these are the most relevant. Correctional officers also care about the inmates within their jails. Prisoners are not allowed to do drung in jail, so the correctional officer makes sure that prisoners are not doing something like that and if a correctional officer finds contraband this prisoner will be disciplined and the visit will be prosecuted.

Correctional Officer Skills

  • Interpersonal skill: this is one of the most important and this is because they will be able to communicate and interact with others and it needs to be effectitly.
  • Decision making-skill: Believe or not, making decisions is hard and sometimes you need to be fast in this job, because every second counts.
  • Physical strength and stamina: Correctional officers sometimes are on their own for a long period of time, and are capable of  breaking up some fights between the prisoners for that reason they need to have this quality.

What Are The Differences Between A Jailer And Detention Officer?

The two positions are similar but not completely identical. Jailers work at the municipal or county facilities for holding prisoners until they have their trial. In contrast, detention officers can work in a juvenile correctional, and of course, the jailer will be around more violence than a detention officer.

What Type Of Qualifications Does A Jailer Need?

The qualification will vary and depend on the institution they are working for the minimum are requirements: high school diploma or GED. The applicants must take a criminal background check, medical exam, and drug screening. Most of the Federal prisons require a bachelor’s degree and work experience in supervising people because it will be one of your assignments all the time.

Every recruitment will depend on the state or country they are applying to, the same case about the age, the age is around 20-26 most of the time when you are trying to apply for this job, search for information in the state you are in because probably it will change.

Do “Jailor” And “Jailer” Have The Same Meaning?

They have the same meaning, but jailer is the accurate one because jailor does not exist; people consider it as synonyms even though it does not prove that in official dictionaries.

Even though Jailor is popular in some communities and countries, it does not mean it is acceptable to use.

Does The Word “Jailer” Have Synonyms?

Yes, there are many synonyms you can use instead of the jailer, also known as a gaoler in the UK old-fashioned. Other synonyms are custodian, guard, keeper, marshal also Marshall too and abductor.

There many antonyms to jailer which are captive, capture, internee, co-prisoner, convict, and jailbird.

Although jailor does not have synonyms or antonyms, it is also considered a word in scramble games because it is viewed as a synonym of jailer, so believe it or not when you are playing scramble with your family or friends is accepted.

Another curious fact is, there is a movie called Jailor, it is a Hindi movie in 1958, a melodrama film. Even though it is old, it has many views, so if you want to watch it, go on Youtube and enjoy it.

Examples of the word “Jailer”

  • The jailer treated him disrespectfully.
  • The jailer makes his rounds around six until eleven pm.
  • One prisoner wants to fight with the new jailer.
  • Not all the Jailers are humble.

jailor barcode

Examples Of The Word “Jailor”

It is curious to have an example section of jailor, even though some dictionaries do not have it as a word.But most people consider it as a synonym of jailer, that is why people use them, and some countries use it too. We are going to do some examples because this word is known by people, but that does not mean it is accurate to use it.

  • The prison has changed the jailors.
  • One prisoner got into a fight with the jailor and got bruises.
  • The state hired new jailors to the new prison in the North.
  • The jailors begin the lookdown.
  • Many jailors want to change the prison.
  • Most prisiones hate the jailors.

If you change jailer for jailor in those sentences, it will have the same meaning as people consider them equals, but try to use jailer instead because it is the correct one.

Conclusion

Through this article, we know that both words exist and many people use them worldwide; we need to consider that even though people say a word or repeat that does not mean it is good to use it even though most of the people do it.

Acknowledging what a word means makes you a smart person who wants to use words accurately. We encourage you to keep doing it and you will become a master one day.

Keep learning!