I work in a mens prison AMA

[CrispAura]

Send me a question, and I will try to answer as honestly as possible

I was an education manager employed by a college to manage prison education. We had a member of staff who dressed provocatively and I had to send her home to get changed. She was an absolute nightmare. Showed prisoners her tattoos, slept with officers, flirted with the deputy governor and head of security who were like teenagers. She was known as Lip Gloss. She was the most extraordinary colleague I've ever encountered. None of the college staff could stand her.

I'm an HCP (not Nursing but allied )
I know you have to be very detached and everyone deserves Health Care and you do need to keep your Professional head on. Two way respect and give no personal information.

But I have sometimes thought I wish I did NOT know that with some information I am privvy to . ( I don;t work in prisons BTW)

Do any of them like being there. I suppose when you’ve been in years under a strict routine it’s easy to become institutionalised..

Do you think women under 25/30 should work in men’s prisons? There seems to be a lot of news reports about staff having relationships. Do you see this happen?

What an interesting thread, @CrispAura. Thank you for your insights and for taking the time.

Have you met many/ any families inside - father and son, brothers? Would they be allowed to share a cell or do they get separated?

is solitary confinement not really a thing in the uk? Do you think it should be?

thanks, interesting thread.

Do prisoners celebrate Christmas in any way? Like with food? Anything religious? Any difference in visiting? Would there be a tree anywhere?

An interesting thread, thank you.
Has it lowered your opinion of men in general (ie those outside prison too)?

Do most of the men worry about their families or are they more focused on surviving prison / selfish?

Fascinating thread, thank you

Do you think it's mainly civilians ( non uniform staff , aside from those coming in on a V.O ) that bring in drugs then ?

I worked many years ( as a civilian ) in prison and take an objection to you saying that
although it is 10 years since I worked in one.

I imagine drones now play a part in getting drugs in and in my day it was mainly visitors and the prisoners themselves at reception.

My prison was/is also a B cat Male & Young Offenders Institute in the South East .

Really enjoying your thread, OP, and place marking until I can formulate my questions properly, I feel like I’ll probably have a few! :)

Do you think it’s a job that suits people who have seen something of life, rather than people starting out.

Was a really interesting thread until this post.

os it really necessary to call other women slags OP?

you don't sound very nice at all. I'm glad I don't work with you.

I’m a secondary school English teacher. In my experience, students who have poor literacy rates are the ones who are most likely getting into a lot of trouble. They often misbehave to cover up how much they struggle to access the curriculum and learning. These are also my favourite students to work with because I feel like I can make the most impact when helping them.

I’ve often thought about teaching in prisons. OP, do you have any insight into what this experience is like for teachers who come into prisons from schools? I’ve worked in inner city London schools and am good at behaviour management as well as teaching and learning side of the job (don’t want to blow own trumpet, just want to highlight I am not put off by challenging behaviour).

@SoniccBoom, that part of the thread was about a woman who joined the prison service to generate content for her porn channel. There are a lot of possible descriptors for such a woman, none of them complimentary.

Do you believe in the notion of 'born evil'? Or is it always environment that triggers criminality?

Cells are small for 2 men and yes the toilet is in the cell with a privacy curtain.
I have never seen a lavish cell! Most are poky and messy and dirty. Hardly any have play stations because they are expensive to buy, you can't just have one sent in. They have to buy them from a prison approved vendor with money they have earned from working and be an enhanced Prisoner

A curtain ? Are you sure , something doesn't ring true there . Where is the security in that and a curtain would hide them completely from view which just would not happen in a cell .
I said upthread I worked in a B cat 10 years ago and as a civilian but I've been many a time on a wing speaking to a prisoner through the hatch so have seen thousands of cells in 3 different jails and never seen a curtain . A fixed metal , waist height modesty panel yes but a curtain no . They would be seen as a hanging risk , and yes I know they hang themselves with torn sheets made into rope but I can't see your jail giving them curtain , in the jail I worked in there was no curtains even at the windows !

This sounds really weird but I have anxiety about being sent to prison and not having access to things that are important to me. If you had willing family, can you get anything sent in? Eg coffee machine, books, certain toiletries, cleaning products? Can you decorate your cell, put up shelving etc? I have a vision that I could set up classes for other women, for literacy, art appreciation, book clubs etc. Would that be possible? I'm not planning to go to prison any time soon, but always good to think ahead!

Any women in the men’s prison? Never hear about transmen in men’s prisons.

How is this relevant to a discussion about how someone presents themselves to work as a prison officer? Can you not see the difference in the two environments?

I don't think false nails, false eyelashes, fake tan etc means that someone is 'looking their best'. That seems a strange idea to me.

I don't imagine anyone doing that thinks they look worse

You get some money given to you in prison and if you are employed ( cleaning , laundry ,, garden , workshops , kitchen , gym etc ) or at education , you are paid .
Your family can also send in money . You can then buy additional items from a list called canteen which might be various food items , make up , ( some jails have Avon )
Books are supplied via the library ( which is linked in to the council libraries ) so you can also order any book ( as long as it isn't a few banned in prison subjects ) from an outside library to come in for you to read ) alongside from the choice in the prison library .
Tbh , I could talk for days about prison libraries as I managed one for years in the prison , and now work out of jail but still within the library environment with a link into them .
You probably wouldn't be allowed to start your own book group but the library staff in the prison more than likely already do so so you could go on the waiting list to join .

Why are they doing it, then? They want to look nice by their own metric.

Please tell us more about prison libraries. If I ever have to go to prison I want my own books (in my cell, neatly on shelving), I don't want to be restricted to the library's stock. What titles are banned in the library?