To ask would you ever be a prison officer? And how much?

[TheQueef]

Watched a few telly programmes about prison recently.
I can now confidently say I would never do that job. For £24,000 or even £124k.

Would you be,or indeed are you, a prison officer?

What do you think the salary should start at?

I would and I’d be good at it but I wouldn’t do it for less than 35/40k

The start salary is just under £21,000 (more in london)

Your Dad worked at Peterhead, Dieu? Serious respect!

My English prison was "twinned" for many years with Barlinnie and naturally, we swapped war stories whenever we had a get-together but even they thought Peterhead was something else.

That's shocking @TheQueef . In all honestly locally people here earn the same or more in some retail jobs!

Not that there's anything wrong with retail before anyone thinks I mean that, but it's a zero danger/stress job in comparison!

Not a chance in hell.

Prison officers do a very tough and vitally important job, but I have no idea why anyone would put up with that much crap and personal danger for such a joke salary. Recruitment must be a complete nightmare.

I'd love to be a prison officer... I worked in a medium secure psychiatric unit before I had my baby and we got lots of people from the prison system and I really think it needs good compassionate staff in amongst the others...
None of these jobs are well paid... its public services for you.... they expect you to work out of passion for it...
When I worked on the medium secure ward I was on minimum wage. But the level of responsibility and what's expected of you is very high. These things certainly arent paid nearly well enough.

@krisskrosskiss That’s what my DP does now, works in medium secure mental health hospital for service users with LD who would be in prison if it wasn’t for being mentally ill with learning difficulties, a lot of the service users are in there for index sex offences. It obviously takes a certain type of person to be able to work in these environments but like you say the money is minimum and I don’t want DP to go through all the stuff that comes with being a PO for minimum bloody wage, it just ain’t worth it.

I think this must be one of the toughest jobs out there if Im honest ,Couldnt do it in a million years! All respect to the Officers .must be really hard .No idea what they earn but its definitely not enough!

It definitely takes a special kind of person to do this sort of job. I don't think I have enough compassion in me quite honestly to be kind or behave professionally to people who have committed horrendous and violent offences. Especially against children. So I'm glad that there are people out there who can do this sort of job.

I considered it when I was younger, but couldnt pass the eyesight requirements. I was a new graduate and there was an accelerated promotion scheme for graduates at the time.

The pay is very low these days and there isn't a shift allowance either. A massive new prison was built locally and I'm sure one of the reasons for it's location is the population locally have few qualifications and options for work. A lot of the people recruited were ex forces with limited employment options locally.

@SingingLily

Thanks! And yes, he did, for much of our childhood 😊
In fact, do you remember the year of the prison fire there, and the prisoners on the roof and the (elderly ) prison officer they took hostage? Dad was working there then.
In fact, I distinctly remember (aged about 13) looking out of the bedroom window one night and saying 'umm, dad, why is the prison on fire?'
'Jesus Christ!' came his reply, as he leapt up to grab his work boots.
Happy days
He worked at Barlinnie too (we're Scottish, obviously) but left after only a year or two because of the impact on us kids. We always lived in prison housing, and that area in Glasgow was pretty rough. We were bullied at school, and Peterhead was paradise in comparison!

I've worked in a very small secure children's home, which I loved. It's a very different setup, 4 staff to 8 kids where I was and we tended to have the most vulnerable kids. It was as nurturing as that kind of environment can be and a lot of kids blossomed under our care, but they return to the lives they came from and that's a really hard thing to have in your head when they leave. The reasons they came to us were complex. I would not be a prison officer. No way. I recommend a podcast called Ear Hustle for anyone who's interested in the realities of prison life. It's recorded inside San Quentin and it's brilliant.

Prison riots is what I meant, as opposed to fire ... even though there was one!

One happier childhood memory, is the prisoners who sometimes came to work in our garden at home! Obviously trusted blokes, with whom dad had formed a rapport. They got to use their expertise, be outside in the fresh air, and eat good home cooked food. We got our garden done!
One rescued my budgie when it flew down the toilet, and another built a hutch for my rabbit
Can't imagine that ever happening these days. They were such nice men though, and it taught me not to judge a book by its cover.

works in medium secure mental health hospital for service users with LD who would be in prison if it wasn’t for being mentally ill with learning difficulties

Can I just ask if you know why these people are called 'service users'? It seems a very strange term to me, given that they're inpatients who have committed series crimes and been locked up for them. Why aren't they patients? Or inmates? Service users is such a bland and meaningless phrase and doesn't describe what they are at all. A friend of mine worked in a secure dementia unit and she always called the people she worked with 'service users', so am I the only one who thinks it's a really odd turn of phrase?

In fact, do you remember the year of the prison fire there, and the prisoners on the roof and the (elderly ) prison officer they took hostage? Dad was working there then.

I certainly do, Dieu. A terrible terrible incident. I'd moved on to a very high security prison by then and soon after, we took one of the ringleaders as he'd worn out his welcome in the Scottish prison system. My DH knew and had worked alongside that poor prison officer from when they were both on detached duty at The Maze years ago.

Mind you, DH says the possibility he might have had a pint or two with your Dad at the officers' club at Barlinnie is probably high, so he also sends his regards and as you say, happy days

NC for this. I was a prison officer for 15 years, worked with juveniles, YOs and adult males.

The rapid decline in the state of the prison service is shocking. Unimaginable for anyone who hasn't experienced it and yes, we are the forgotten service.

The lack of experienced staff and the fact that they don't have the powers to do the job properly anymore is a big factor. That and the rise of Spice inside prisons.

I was involved in and witnessed some horrific incidents but coped with it well. Until the final straw, being assaulted by a prisoner absolutely off his head on Spice. I could've easily been killed. I was ill health retired (which they don't just hand you on a plate so I spent two years fighting for it) and am now "lucky" enough to have my payout and pension. I'm also lucky to be alive.

I wouldn't tell my worst enemy to join that job which is so sad to say as we had some fantastic times and staff once. Those days are gone.

To the poster who said they come looking for you when they get out, that's rare. We don't have a terrible relationship with prisoners on the whole. And to the poster who said staff with young families rarely work Christmas......and the non-existent older staff sort that. Hmm, once upon a time yes but now? Hahahahahahaha. Not a chance. It's every man for himself unfortunately, another reason I couldn't do it anymore.

I spent 2 years as a nurse in the prison service. Hated it.

And I'm not a power hungry control freak just for the record!

@dontdoitop
Re the Christmas thing, that's how it still works in dad's prisons, so I'm not making it up
They're forever covering each other's shifts too, so it's never a problem to get time off for something.
Your experience is obviously just different.

Your experience certainly sounds very difficult though, and I agree with most of what you've said.
Dad worked once with the YOs and absolutely hated it. He's old school, and felt wound up by them. Think he missed the older guys!

Not anymore.

It used to be a good career. Good pay, good benefits in terms of pensions, healthcare etc and it was a lot safer when conditions were better for prisoners and staff. When prison officer numbers were higher and ratios were better. Since the privatisation of prisons, like so many things, it has become about the bottom line and to hell with the consequences and things have been getting worse and worse.

I don't think you're making it up. It was definitely like that years ago. Remember it well and if the Scottish prison service has managed to retain some of that I'm glad. But England and Wales were absolutely hammered by VEDS several years back. It never recovered.

Most prisons here now have had a huge influx of new starters, the vast majority of them young and more likely to have young families. My friends that are still in have worked the last few christmases, I know I had to work my last few with young kids. Just wouldn't want anyone to go into that job assuming it'll be all cameraderie and shift swaps. That shit left down here years back. Great while it lasted though.

Towards the end of my service there were so many new starters on shit wages having to do pp (overtime) to top up their salaries that they weren't free to do a shift swap.

And most older staff had gone for promotion for various reasons, some of them that have added to this crisis as they weren't cut out for the job but wanted off the landings. They'll never admit that from their ivory towers with their rose tinted glasses on though and tales of old times.

These new low paid staff have got it the worst, they will never learn the jail craft they need because there is nobody left to pass it on. You can write all the policies in the world and without basics and jail craft the system is in dire straits. I don't see how they can pull it back now. Awful.

he used to work in Peterhead

Definite respect, someone I used to be friendly with worked there for quite a few years. Another friend works at the new Peterhead prison.

And yeah, I know what he means about YOs vs adults. Unfortunately the entitled YOs that we're brought up in the new system that allowed them that sense of entitlement have now grown to be the "adults" 🤦🏽‍♀️