The special issues, problems, and challenges addressed are prison overcrowding, the lack of institutional support, racial and ethnic skewing, maintaining confidentiality and other ethical considerations, large caseloads, excessive paperwork, nonvolunteer clients, responsibility for both control and treatment, limited opportunity for reality testing, being "conned" by clients, counselor "conning" of the client, emphasis on failure, and stress and burnout. To be satisfied and successful as a correctional counselor, a person must be knowledgeable about counseling and have the necessary skills to put this knowledge into action. It also helps if one has had courses in criminal law, criminology/criminal justice, and the social/behavioral sciences. In addition, correctional counselors must have the same competencies as their colleagues in other counseling situations. These include concern about people's problems, helpfulness, sense of humor, honesty, maturity, intellectual effectiveness, capacity for growth, objectivity, and a well-balanced personality. Correctional counselors must also be loving and caring people who are willing to work with offenders in planning for the future, who are streetwise and not easily "conned," who do not give up on people easily, who can gain the confidence of suspicious offenders, and who can cope with excessive demands and handle failures in themselves and their clients. Key concepts and terms as well as discussion questions are provided.