I’m a woman whose worked in Prisons across England, AMA

[Saynderson]

Have changed my name as my normal account has posts and comments that might make it a bit obvious who I am irl (might have over shared in the stately homes topic!)

After seeing many posts and comments over the years on MN that are very misinformed around how prisons operate I thought I’d bite the bullet and use a few hours of my afternoon off to do an AMA.

I’ve worked in prisons across England for the past 12 years. Started as a prison officer at 18, after a couple of years I went to Uni to get a degree and masters in criminal psychology, came back to the MoJ as a trainee forensic psychologist, progressed through many forensic psychologist roles, and did a stint in the educational dept leading a few projects too. I have gained a wide range of experience over the years, so AMA on anything and I can try to give a solid answer (although I won’t be able to let you know how to escape if the need ever arose! I also can’t comment on specific cases, incidents or prisons by name)

I will also be ignoring any questions solely around trans prisoners, I know MN has a reputation on this subject but I am fully aligned to our current risk assessment process for all resident moves. Any questions around this will most likely not be asked in good faith so I will not be entering into that debate as it’s pointless and will derail a thread.

Thanks OP!

What would you say are the main differences that you've noticed between men's and women's prisons? Is there a different feel to them?
Do you see a lot of ND people in prison?

@MrsSchrute

the biggest differences I find between male and female prisons are the staff, unfortunately many officers especially get quite complacent in female prisons and it gives an artificially relaxed atmosphere.

When looking specifically at the residents themselves I see the biggest differences when going from category to category. There are some women’s prisons I didn’t feel safe walking through and some male prisons I’d happily walk around without an escort in (and have done even when pregnant!)

I’d say around 1/3 of the residents will have some form of neurodivergent condition that I have seen. For many it really hinders their ability to engage in programs so it’s a big priority for myself, my teams and snr management to continually look into and work on to improve our services

What is the most common crime you've seen women in prison for?

Thanks OP - I am interested in how high profile female prisoners experience prison (thinking of those like Lucy Letby for example)

How would their experience differ from a typical female inmate, and are they at as much risk of violence as a similar prisoner would be in a men's prison?

Also, do you feel that there is enough support for women who are incarcerated with additional needs? - e.g. I have visited prisons for work in other countries which have included women who incarcerated while they are pregnant or who have significant mental health issues

Are the TV dramas Time accurate?

@Talliskerwas literally about to ask the same! I really enjoyed both so interested to know

Do prisons ever rehabilitate?

What is the most difficult part of your job?

@reasoningwithstupidity

For me personally the crime committed by most of the female residents I deal with is murder, GBH, Arson and sexual crimes. But that is because I don’t work with anyone whose sentence is less than 3 years. Broadly speaking the vast majority of females in prison are for theft or crimes that attract a lower custodial sentence. So I don’t see day to day the full spectrum in female prisons. Although thankfully those numbers are falling as measures are put in place to reduce the number of women in custody for low level offences.

@Zeduk vulnerable female residents do often get an ‘easier’ time than a similarly high profile male.

That is due to many factors, for example on the whole, female residents have lower sentences (due to the types of crimes committed as a whole) and therefor are less likely to want to do anything to ruin their chances at parole hearings.

High profile female residents are more at risk of ‘pack’ violence in prison, it’s usually coordinated. Male high profile residents are often victim to more low level 1-1 attacks, but also suffer from pack violence.

@Greekgreens prison don’t. The programs put in place specifically to rehabilitate do.

Most of the programs in 3/4 of the prisons I work across have a 70-82% success rate when looking at 5-10 years after release.

issue is, residents don’t have to participate in programs!

This is interesting, thank you OP.

How does it work when someone comes into prison who is already pregnant? Are they allowed to continue seeing the baby after giving birth?

@Sususudio the most difficult part for me always changes.

currently it’s the ever increasing ‘political’ movement within the MoJ. The ‘reforms’ from Dominic Raab for example have made mine and colleagues lives a lot harder and it’s not even effective ‘reform’

And when I had my DC it was difficult for a period to work with sexual offenders whose victims were children.

@ChihuahuaMummy women who are already pregnant when they’re convicted can apply to be moved to an MBU, but this goes through the same risk assessment process as all other moves.

if given a place in an MBU mothers will continue to live with their babies until the upper age limit or they’re released, whatever comes first.

Those that do not get a place or whose sentence is longer than the age limit of the MBU their children will often be placed into foster care or with family (if deemed suitable by social services) visits will depend on the contact agreements in place once that has occurred.

Those that are serving life or ipp sentences would they not be required to participate in offending behaviour programmes would a refusal to participate be seen by the parole board as not addressing their risk factors and being refused due to still being a risk to the public?

@Saynderson

Hi
Thank you for doing an interesting mumsnet thread as this,

Is it possible 🤔 to do voluntary work at womens prisons such as teaching arts and crafts or setting up a book club ect?

@Blueeyedmale yep, it’s a factor during parole hearings but it’s not a requirement.

and unfortunately the vast majority of crimes don’t attract life sentences or even lengthy ones. There have been many residents released that I could never say should be living in the general population for the safety of those around them.

@cerisepanther73 there is a great charity set up who are always looking for new volunteers! Check out -
https://reachvolunteering.org.uk/org/women-prison

Have you seen/heard of many 'personal relationships' between inmates and staff?

@toddlermam more than I can count

It’s always reported and staff are dealt with swiftly. I’d say in some prisons every week a staff member is removed for this! (Usually the young offenders!)

What's been the scariest thing you've seen happen in any prison?

Roughly how many proportionally do you think have committed crimes because of "circumstance" only, vs how many do you think would've been criminals whatever their circumstances?

I guess I'm sort of asking nature vs nurture and obviously very complex, very different crimes etc... but wondered what your gut feeling was, and if this differed between men and women?

Also have you/ colleagues ever been seriously hurt by a prisoner? DD's friend is training as an officer at the moment and it seems very physical.

I spent a bit of time inside on remand earlier this year so interested to read this thread. Only after I was released did I realise how “notorious” some of the women were who were in on life sentences.

@Saynderson I cannot in my wildest dreams imagine how a staff/inmate relationship would happen. Not a physical one anyway. I’m really surprised. I don’t disbelieve you of course but there was so little privacy, I just can’t get my head around it!!

—Slight derail for context-
My charges were all dropped after it became clear the complainant was a serial liar and manipulator of the police. Would rather not have spent my life savings on trying to find that out though. Unfortunately not eligible for legal aid.

What is your current role?