AMA worked in CAT A prison

[coulditbeme2323]

I have seen a few AMA prison posts, but never by an operational member of staff.

I have worked both a CAT A and YOI - so have seen the worst of the worst.

AMA

So is it literally supervision, moving people around, locking and unlocking things?

Were there many trans woman prisoners?

Did the men have sex with eachother even though they were seemingly straight with female partners outside etc?

What's the biggest ruckus/fight/riot you ever witnessed and what happened to those involved?

Thank you! X

Feeding them etc.

There is a bit of paperwork on an internal system after a fight, self harm incident etc.

Never saw a single trans prisoner.

Only knew of a couple of men being sexual together.

Biggest fight I have ever seen is where 11 boys at a YOI assaulted staff the day after boxing day with over 10 staff going to hospital - and a female manager stabbed in the ear.

Do you not think this might be because they work with them on the outside, so at least for some, having someone be optimistic and think they can do better going forward, might actually have a positive impact. Especially coupled with what you said about the number with absent fathers.

So they got out of prison but everyone they met afterwards basically treats them as if they were going back there at some point, it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy.

I'm not saying it always works or matters, but for some maybe it does.

Yes perhaps

Has your experience with this given you any view of the faith in general?

To be honest yes, I am just not sure what I can say here and what I can't.

Thank you, i understand.

Is your current job still related to crime/prison work?

It seems crazy that prison is becoming such a huge resource for religious conversions. Did you find having to be religiously and culturally sensitive made the job harder sometimes?

Have you ever experienced an inmate genuinely wrongly convicted? Or one who you thought had been placed in the wrong level of prison iyswim?

No a SAHM!

Not sure about harder, but always kicked off at the end of Ramadan.

Never wrongly convicted no.

Who was the worst offender you ever met?

Not a name to be honest, not a big name - but a teenage sex offender.

Did you think any of the prisoners you met might do better/be able to turn their lives around in a more rehabilitative environment? Or did you think it was already too late for most of them? What is the effect of current prison environment on inmates - how do they change across their sentence? Do you think they deserve second chances, or would it be a waste of time and resources?

I think I am probably not the best person to ask because of the nature of the prisoners at the two establishments I worked at. We had the worst of the worst.

I am sure officers at a CATC/D would have very different answers to me.

Do you have cleaners who clean the cells or do the prisoners do it themselves? I was thinking about this the other day, randomly! So thought I’d ask!

No cells are the responsibility of each prisoner, and general wing cleaning is done by unit cleaners.

Thanks for posting, it's very interesting/.

Would you go back to this kind of work ever?

What made you choose cat A? Did you apply for that specifically or is that where you ended up?

Never.

No, I got an option of prisons and was living in London at the time!

Did you ever experience you colleagues treating an inmate with inappropriate force, mentally or physically and are there standards you have to abide by?

Never seen inappropriate force.

And yes every time you use force you have to fill out paperwork.

What do you think of the privatisation of some prisons?