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 what are the prisons doing to try and reduce the amount of drugs?

We did, but not the ones you take notice of.

Both!

What other staff were smuggling drugs in? Did drugs smuggled in include the hard stuff like heroin? If so, were did the prisoners get the paraphernalia needed to inject?

To be honest not much - there isn't the staff or money.

Never saw any needles, Spice was huge.

(name changed, as potentially outing)

My best friend from childhood and through school was raped and brutally murdered by Colin Pitchfork in 1983. He went on to murder another innocent schoolgirl in 1986, before being caught and sentenced to life in prison.

Can you tell me why 'it' was allowed parole, but was subsequently taken straight back to prison for breaking his release terms by loitering outside a primary school? Can you tell me why 'it' is now being reviewed for parole again?

Can you tell me why the parole board were so confident in assuring members of the public that this monster was fully reformed and safe to be released (when clearly 'it' wasn't)?

Of course, I know you can't tell me any of this. But maybe you could provide some insight into how it is concluded that an offender of heinous crimes like this is miraculously rehabilitated?

People who make those decisions have probably never set foot inside a prison.

Do you think certain types of prisoner are more likely to be able to be rehabilitated than others? I.e child murderer no, drug dealer yes (for example)

Or maybe not 'rehabilitated' as such, more able and wanting to turn their lives around

I don't know about more likely, but obviously it's less of a risk.

Must prisoners are return customers.

A lot of people who should be 'on the ground' making decisions never are, are they?

Maybe parole boards should be composed entirely of those who have supervised and presided over prisoners for extended periods.

Trigger warning.

They can be alone with prisoners. It happens. Depends on the prison and the risk assessment.

I worked in prisons as a MH nurse and wouldn't recommend it because when it's bad, it's bad. That's male adult estate.

I've had several colleagues develop PTSD after what they were exposed to.

And the worst thing is that 90% plus of British society don't care about staff. When Ian Huntley or Watkins are murdered they celebrate. They don't think about the impact on staff dealing with it. A colleague of mine had to deal with a spice user who'd severed their penis. Another had to try and hold someones skull together after they'd been stamped on repeatedly in the yard. I had to try and deal with someone who'd used spice and bitten themselves down to the bone. They were gnawing on their own ulna bone.

And you can't medicate someone without consent in prison like you can when they're sectioned in hospital. I've had horrible experiences where someone was acutely psychotic and had been assessed and sectioned to remove them to hospital for treatment but beds with the necessary security can't be found for a while so they're on 3-man unlock because of the risk to staff, just going out of their minds in a cell. It was medieval at times and as a nurse, even though I understood why it was happening and it wasn't anyones fault particularly, it felt inhumane and not what I wanted to be part of.

Sorry to jump on the thread but I have worked in multiple cat Cs and a couple cat Bs.

I am not an officer and I have regularly been alone with prisoners with no officers around.

There are alarms on the wall and most lone working staff should have a radio.

If she’s considering it then I would start in Cat C or D (although some may argue the rules are too lax and it’s safer in an A cat).

100% same goes for those writing policies at head office.

Should have done at least 5 years on the landings.

OP I find your thread incredibly interesting.

I have worked in cat Cs and Bs (temporarily in a D) but never A or YOI.

I’m surprised you’ve never seen a trans prisoner - I am seeing more and more of them on the VP wing.

I’ve also seen and heard quite a few openly gay men and goings on - I wonder if it’s more accepted in lower cats.

It’s interesting as I am not working there at the moment due to career progression for at least 12 months but I cannot wait to return.
It’s the best job I’ve ever had.

But you don’t seem to have enjoyed it as much 😂 I wonder if it was always that way or you got sick of the men’s crimes or you just burnt out?

My main Q is what do you prefer - YOIs or A cat?

Also why work in A cat and not B, C or D?

I loved it at the start, had lots of the right male officers looking after us and it felt safe.

Then they introduced on these crazy unlocked, fast track schemes and the staff were rubbish and it became unsafe.

YOI was funnier more entertaining, but as the YCS run it - there is no punishment for the murdering little darlings!

When u talk about the most evil prisoner you ever met - what made him evil to you? Was it because you knew the crime he committed or because he did something evil/came across as evil in person?

The crime, then he was such a weasel with staff.

What extra training would you give officers that you didn't get?

I left prison work (non-ops), possibly for similar reasons to you. It was so demoralising, horrendously underfunded and staff are just treated as another commodity. The system seemed so broken beyond any hope of repair, justice wasn't being done and the prisoners (albeit a small minority) who could've been turned around were just being failed and denied access to many of the services that could've helped facilitate change.

Do you think it will ever change? Do you think a government would ever actually be brave enough to commit to investing in the prison infrastructure? Or do you think it's doomed? I dread to think how it could actually get any worse!

I think B-cat is the most dangerous in my experience. Mix of remand, some low-risk lifers but a lot of shorter sentences where they don't really care if they get a few weeks here or there tagged on after being nicked so dealing, fighting, discliplinary etc were rife.

From what i've heard, when things go wrong in A-cat, it's severe but most of the time, people on long sentences after a while just want to get their head down and just live as easy as possible.

Same thing in secure MH institutions. Intake and assessment wards are always chaos whereas longer-stay, people generally can't be arsed. I remember there being a big scandal at Broadmoor years ago when staff had neglected to lock patients in overnight on the severe and dangerous PD unit because the staff were so used to there being no problems, they just 'forgot' until a patient wandered out and raised the alarm!

I don’t think I could cope in YOI 😂

And that is why I decided to leave temporarily (I’m still in a similar field and hope to go back once I’ve passed my further training) but I needed a backup career, as I know people are leaving the job because of silly rules that they’re bringing in like your situation and so it would only be a matter of time before I have to leave too.

What will do you once you finish being a SAHP or have you not thought much about it yet?

I don't think I would change much about the training, but I would change who they recruit!

Defo not go back! haha

YOI's gave me some of the best days of my life, but when I left there was one unit where you could only put them on basic for a day. They had to get their TV's back before bang up!

So you don't think much of Unlocked, then....?