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

I was a prison officer for 32 years. I’ve worked all over the country from female to Cat A to large London locals to VP prisons and Isle of White. I absolutely loved my job and moved up through the ranks……slowly. Wasn’t really promotion orientated. I have to agree with what you are saying. Good days with lots of banter and laughter were the norm but the bad days……WERE BAD!! I’ve seen some horrific things done to prisoners AND staff. But I’ve also seen kindness from both. I took early retirement after Covid and can honestly say…….I would never go back. It’s too dangerous and that’s thanks to all the do gooders. During Covid when prisoners were locked up almost 24 hours a day, allowed out for shower and 1 phone call, they said they loved it as they felt safe.

I absolutely take my hat off to anyone joining now. It’s a completely different class of recruitment and yes, gang members with no record can possibly join.

Do you ever feel sorry for any of the prisoners or feel any empathy towards their situation?

Yes, but also never forgetting what they are!

Really disappointed as I misread the title as “CAT prision”

Well this thread certainly explains why prisons are so poor at reforming people. How bloody depressing.

How?

You can't imprison cats. They'll do their own thing and find a way out.

What was the worst crime committed that you knew of?

do prison officers know what the crimes committed are or are these hidden so not to influence the way prison officers treat the prisoners?

what did the geeky YOI boy do?

I would struggle to be nice to anyone who had hurt a child or animal.

This is a great thread, very interesting.

Do you feel unsafe in your normal everyday life outside of work ie from ex prisoners that are now out of prison?

What was the worst crime committed that you knew of?

Hard to pick one, but all would have involved children.

do prison officers know what the crimes committed are or are these hidden so
not to influence the way prison officers treat the prisoners?

Not hidden, there is an internal system you can use to check any prisoner.

what did the geeky YOI boy do?

Rape and attempted murder of 10 year old girl.

No not at all.

Why the lack of reform? Lack of money basically, which translates to: lack of mental health care, substance abuse, prisoners locked up for longer (so more inclined to abuse drugs/have poor mental health), lack of safety for staff and prisoners, leading to low staff morale, recruitment on the cheap - the list goes on.

My own experience has been w category B/C prisoners (family/friends of family experience, not professional) and everything stemmed from poor decision making, drug taking and poor mental health. They weren't fundamentally bad people just addicted and chaotic and prison, whilst arguably necessary at times just made things worse. And their story was by no means unique. But they could have been helped, they weren't so much bad (although they did bad things) as intensely vulnerable.

With you, sorry that's not what I thought you were getting at.

Custodial sentences are a last resort - either the crime itself mandates it, there are aggravating factors, or there has been significant offending beforehand which fines, community sentences, tag etc haven't been successful in addressing.

The white paper on youth justice out today has said that 80% of adult prolific offenders committed their first crime as children. Which knowing the youth justice system means they probably committed offences which were dealt with out of court or had community orders which haven't helped reduce their offending. Then on into adulthood with the same pattern.

It's a complex issue but often, numerous resources and interventions have been put in place or offered before custodial happens.

Sadly not true @ForLimeCat . There's virtually no support out there for those who struggle with addiction or mental health and absolutely nothing for those who struggle w both, esp if you throw something like ADHD into the mix.

Op, did it shock you how ordinary looking most of the worst offenders are, like if you seen them in asda you wouldn't look twice.

Or am I wrong?

Have you ever bumped into a former prisoner in real life?
Have you ever lived close to where you've worked?

Have you ever felt threatened by the work you do in the street?

I can’t speak for A cat but I can speak for other prisons and yes I was shocked by how normal and ‘nice’ many offenders were, especially sex offenders.

Some you aren’t surprised about at all but some are well to do, professional men.
Some are young, good looking, charismatic men.

I went into the work with my eyes wide open and knowing what many men are like but honestly if I had young DCs I would never let any man near them.
It probably has affected my trust with men but I’m not sure if that’s a bad thing.

I often wonder how young single women find working there and if it puts them off being in a relationship with a man (obviously not all of them if you read the news).

I also work quite centrally to multiple prisons and I’ve only saw ex prisoners a handful of times and luckily they’ve been decent ones, so it was nice to see them.

I have had prisoners become obsessed with me and that sometimes scares me for when they get out.
It only takes 1 person to say the rough area you live or what car you drive and you’re screwed.

They get let out and they’re free.
So depending on what time their probation meeting is, they could hang around or come back at the time they know you finish and see what car you drive or follow you home.

Did you ever have nightmares about any of them? I think Id be too much of a wimp.

is it true they hate pedos?

What would you change with recruiting

Do you think sex offenders are born or made? Someone I knew very well one of the sons was convicted for many offences against young children he got a paltry 7 years. The justice system doesn’t seem to account for the lifetime of trauma for their victims.

Such an interesting thread, thanks OP. I’m a teacher and sometimes feel like we are at opposite ends of the same thread.

Do you think it’s possible to get prisons clean of drugs? Were you aware of how drugs getting in and what was done about it? What could be done to improve it?

Also do inmates have access to their phones and the internet?

They can be and lots of projects have shown this. Grendon project, Barlinne special unit and that’s Scotland. Lots all over the world that prove rehabilitation works. I studied it.
not that I greed with it but that’s a different subject. It’s proven to help that’s just factual based on research and rehabilitation programs.