Is anyone a prison officer? Can you tell me about it?

[strawberrypickinginsummer]

I’m considering this as my job vanished in covid and opportunities are so limited.

I am really drawn to it. Are there many opportunities for part time? Have a very young baby. Do they offer a reasonable maternity package?

I'm not the one who wants to become a prison officer, so I don't need to have what it takes tyvm :)
You'll have to learn to be less defensive if you're on the wing with 15 convicts!

Yes, we’ve established my lack of suitability for the role because I politely declined to justify myself. Have a lovely evening

Used to work in a women's prison. As far as I know there is scope to go part time but the shift pattern is 24hrs. Much more flexibility doing admin related working behind the scenes. You will still get prisoners getting in your face even as an admin worker though, at the cat c prison i worked at they were out of their cells all day.

Oh heavens treacle was trying to be helpful, to open up a conversation.

You are very defensive and rude.

I agree you seem to have limited communication skills.

Perhaps you would struggle in a role with a lot of conflict?

My best friend is a prisoner officer. Private cat B prison. They are very very short staffed which means she regularly feels unsafe. They rely heavily on "wing workers" who are prisoners who have a role of assistant to the prison officer on that wing.

She went part time and it is possible as long as you are happy to have no job progression. In certain sectors such as education, you can work "office hours" rather than shifts.

It is wise to let the prisoners know nothing about your personal life. This is hard if for example it's clear you work part time around school hours as they will guess you have kids.

I have done the 'See all' option for OP's responses, and she's done nothing wrong FFS! What's wrong with people?

You aren't interviewing her for the job. She doesn't have to persuade you that she's a suitable candidate.

If anything, I imagine it probably helps in a job like that to have clear boundaries.

I think op if it's something you're really wanting to do, go for it. Good luck!

I know 3 women who have been prison officers. 1 in a YOI (or whatever its called here days) and 2 in a women’s prison. I also know a recently retired PO who worked most of his career at Strangeways.
The one in the YOI loved it at first, until she was attached by an inmate and got very little support from her manager. the 2 who worked in a women’s prison didnt last very long after their training - 2 years for one and 3 for the other. It was the management that did it for both of them. Basically, expected to do long hopers for crap pay and no thanks. Working in a massively underfunded system trying to keep a lid on tensions. The one who worked at Strangeways loved it for most of his career and retired at 55 on a good pension. He had some very hairy moments though. He worked there during the riots and had to stay in the prison for 4 weeks , he was attached more than once during his career.

@strawberrypickinginsummer

If you think that was kicking off, you are clearly unsuited to whatever job you do

Silly, isn’t it?

Yeh, perfectly polite, that's you.

Wow.

OP, that’s quite a display of being rude, touchy, defensive and ungrateful toward people who are trying to respond helpfully to the question you asked. Basic good manners cost nothing, and will serve you well in any job.

Kudos to you, OP for standing your ground. I don't know why some posters are being so arsey to you but, people can and do say whatever they want here.

I don't know if you saw it but there was an interesting documentary about prisons and the inmates (UK-based), it gave an insight that was fascinating. I think it's on ITV catch-up?

I've done a few prison visits for work, I don't work in that sector but it was really interesting to look at the activities that inmates can get involved in to learn new skills for working when they come back in the outside world. These were cat.C prisons.

Somebody upthread mentioned the Justice/Probation service, they might be a good port of call to get a perspective.

Op - I had/have relatives who worked in prisons seriously it's not an "easy choice"

Working patterns are atrocious

Pay is very poor compared to what others may get

Emotionally - it's a battering ram to all senses

Unless you have a "get out of jail" plan then do not even go there

"You'll have to learn to be less defensive if you're on the wing with 15 convicts!"

15 is the absolute dream. Try 80 and you'll be nearer the mark.

There is work life balance OP but you'll not get it easily.

Thanks so much lying, I don’t know either, it’s strange.

To be honest I didn’t want to get into the whole motivation and why I think I’d be good because unfailingly on MN people pick at it, and plus I genuinely don’t have time.

leaf I don’t think many people imagine a job in a prison is easy, I certainly don’t.

And thanks to other posters too - sorry I missed your posts!

The pay is poor
The hours are terrible
You need to be emotionally strong
Professional at all times
Best suited to people without a temper

"Emotionally - it's a battering ram to all senses

Unless you have a "get out of jail" plan then do not even go there"

That's it. In a nutshell.

"To be honest I didn’t want to get into the whole motivation and why I think I’d be good"

That's not what was asked. Not why you'd be good...nobody knows that without trying it.

It's what you would want from it that was asked. Two very different things.

David this isn’t helping me or you, is it?

Shall we draw a line? As I do feel that things have calmed down on the thread which is good.

My brother is an officer and honestly it's brutal. The training for him included a few weeks away so worth checking what training you'd need to do if that would be an issue with a baby. The shifts are often long and include weekends and nights, pay is pretty dire for what the job is.

He's witnessed some awful things too. But he enjoys it and says he can't see himself doing anything else.

My husband is an officer and he loves it, it's interesting what people's assessment of poor hours and conditions are! He came from a hospitality background so working a maximum of 41 hours a week and earning around £26k with 10-11 weeks off a year works perfectly for him. I think holiday entitlement is 5-7 weeks depending on service, plus a week off after every set of nights (roughly one every 3 months where you work 7 nights straight). Overtime is double pay after 41 hours!

His prison is quiet though and one of the "safer" ones so that probably has an influence on his opinion too. It's heavily male oriented however, with a lot of very "non PC banter" from what I can tell. The part time officers seem to have been in the job a while I think. The training is a Monday to Friday 9-5 type thing over a few months so part time is not possible for that.

I think the reason why people are asking what draws you to it OP is because those of us who have worked in the prison system are wondering why someone would actively seek a career as an officer as there aren't that many benefits to it.

@DavidsSchitt

You asked what it's like and I told you. That's all.

It's not a safe or a nice environment. It's hostile, dangerous and the pay is crap for what you do.

You're in danger every minute and the staff turnover is high, cameraderie amongst staff isn't nearly what it was. Spice is a real issue as is lack of support.

This is horrific for staff and prisoners. Mind you 15 prisoners made me laugh, but there would have been more staff years ago per 80 inmates and all staff were fully trained, no auxiliary officers and we still complained.

As for earnings in the early 90’s a prison officer on the highest increment for their basic grade earned equivalent of £37000 per annum in today’s money for a 37 hour week, shift work.

Covid is an issue in prisons.