Physical Danger
Uh…yeah. This isn't like being an accountant. Hopefully you've gotten the picture by now—this is one of the most dangerous jobs you can have. Some inmates just don't feel like they have that much to lose at this point (what's somebody going to do—throw them in prison?), and they're even less likely to hold back on the physical violence on the inside than they did on the outside. Which is a scary thought.
Guards get killed all the time. And often in really ugly ways. They are assaulted in all kinds of bizarre ways—and with such a huge percentage of prisoners having a history with drugs, one needle stick from a prisoner with AIDS or something else bad is a slow death sentence for many.
And even when they aren't physically assaulting you in the prison, the prisoners who have all the time in the world will try to work on your brain... Little whispers about one of their buddies coming to visit your mommy next week will haunt you at night.