Does anyone else feel sorry for Prison Officers?

[girlfriend44]

Honestly what a horrible job, could you do it? Imagine having to deal with all these child murderers etc on a daily basis and probably call them by their first names etc?

Working with the dregs of society day in. day out, I couldnt, hats off to them. How do you keep it together knowing that they have starved, beaten, and abused a child etc?

@IfIhearmumagaintoday it is like a day out for them ☺️

I'm not sure I feel sorry for them, given they chose the job, but I am very grateful to them. I imagine it's like many jobs, there's lots of bits that aren't much fun, but I also think that there will be some prisoners who the prison officers know they have helped to turn their lives around when in prison so I can see there would be job satisfaction from that, as well as knowing that you are keeping many dangerous people from being free to commit crimes again.

Worth looking at Fritzi Horstman's work with prisoners.

m.youtube.com/watch?v=FVxjuTkWQiE

Stats also show that prison officers have similar rates of childhood trauma to inmates. They also show that the average age of death for career prison officers is 2 years after retirement. It's a very tough job, but the system is set up in a way that actually benefits nobody, us included. For it to benefit us, prisoners would need to be reformed upon release and the majority have spent their time inside being further traumatised and basically made less socially able to fit in.

I'm personally not in any rush to defend child abusers and killers but the idea that every prisoner is scum and the dregs of society is nonsense. I'd say many of them did what could only have been expected after the horrors of their childhoods. A bad childhood isn't an excuse, but it does underlie many of the mental health problems these guys have.

Worth noting too that when they have therapy in prison - if it's available and they want to - it's not actually confidential. Imagine having therapy and your boss could find out what you've been saying and some colleagues could see you're in a session or going to one and when you exit that room after therapy you're immediately in a hostile environment. So basically they're screwed. The system doesn't work.

Check out what they do in Norway if you want to know a system that works better for everybody.

It’s funny this thread has come up. I live not far from a massive Category A prison, and the other day I drove past an officer standing at the bus stop waiting to go home. He was only a young fella, and he looked absolutely knackered.

I remarked to DH that I didn’t envy him his job. DH just shuddered. He used to be a Police Officer, and says the only time he was ever scared was when he went into prisons - not because of the inmates. He reckons they’re just horrible, smelly, miserable, desperate places.

And prison officer training in Norway is 2 years vs about 2 weeks in Scotland (from memory).

I used to work in a prison though in Education not an officer. I didn't officially know what my students were in for unless they told me and even if it was for something pretty horrendous just treated them like any student anywhere else.

I feel sorry for them. It is a tough job with insufficient training and crap pay. I can see why they appear over friendly with the prisoners, because there are so few of them they rely on prisoners goodwill to keep them and other inmates safe. I wouldn't work in a prison for all the money in the world.

Yep he did intake for Wayne Couzens. Said he just kept his head down and refused to speak the entire time. But said at least he's where he deserves to be.

(WC kept his head down)

I'm a nurse, have worked in a prison setting alongside many prison officers

Some of them love it , cope well and become respected trusted and good role models

Some of them are absolute pricks and enjoy the control

Some of them are not cut out for it at all

Same in forensics and general nursing where most large centres will see a custodial patient at some point - you get used to the personal feelings and become quite closed off to it

I've met some Cat A prisoners that you would not believe for one second what they are capable of - pleasant , polite , educated , articulate, presentable - but you would never ever allow them within an inch of your family

@Devotedcatslave prisons have always ran on the goodwill of the prisoners. It doesn’t matter how many staff you have, if you unlock over 800 prisoners in one go. B

The Strangeways riot (and others) demonstrated that.

Having good interpersonal skills can look like friendliness from the outside.

Well said @anybloodyname

49% of children that have been in care end up in the prison system.

39% of the prison population have suffered childhood abuse.

If Logan Mowangi had managed to survive his abusive and horrific childhood but then himself became a murderer or child abuser would you still be calling him ‘the dregs of society’ or would you feel that society had completely failed him and is to blame for the eventual outcome.

'Dregs of society'?

You've not got a bloody clue OP.

Family member was pretty senior in the prison service during the 80’s and 90’s. Went to his house and it had the most full on alarm system I’d ever seen with panic buttons etc. that alerted the police as he worked in high security (housing several terrorists). Didn’t have in depth conversations about it as he wouldn’t go there.

Like all jobs in society - we need someone to do it.

As always when OP’s make sweeping statements they then disappear!

I’ve worked in prisons.
it’s not how you imagine.
mostly full of daft young men who were not clever enough to hide their Stupid crimes.
it doesn’t feel particularly dangerous or threatening

As far as I know they aren’t forced into the position of prison officer, so why would I feel sorry for them? 🤷🏻‍♀️

Grateful that they are there.

Given the insecurity of many jobs, I can see why for some it may be something they choose.

do you also feel sorry for all the other people who work in prisons and with prisoners? all the people working in healthcare provision in the prisons of which I am one. all the cleaners, teachers, support staff? as pp have said as with all jobs there are good and bad points but everyone working in a prison has chosen to be there and for myself i find it very rewarding work.

I wouldn't that I feel sorry for them as such, but I do think it's a horrible job. My brother did it for about 6 months years ago, it was the only work he could get at the time despite being a qualified electrician. He absolutely hated it, he is quite a sensitive soul and has never quite got over the stuff he witnessed.

OP not all prisoners are dregs of society.

I was a prison officer for three years. You would be surprised that it's mostly just 'normal' men who have done something stupid / made a few bad decisions.

I've cut down a young father who had hung himself because he couldn't cope with the sexual abuse he had received as a child.

I have hugged a grown man who sobbed because his abusive mother had found out where he was and wrote to him, bringing back horrendous memories from his childhood.

I've watched a six foot five man break down when he found out his little girl had died of a heart condition.

They're prisoners, yes, but they aren't all the dregs of society and they aren't all sex offenders.

It's people who are judgemental like yourself that prevent criminals from rehabilitating because they are always stuck with the stigma of having a criminal record.

They're people, some are scum yeah, but 99% are just paying the price for a stupid decision. I wish you could spend a day inside to see what it's really like.

Working in a prison sounds pretty much the same as being in prison, except you have the hassle of commuting.

This is exactly what I used to say when I worked in one haha. And the prisoners would say 'at least you get paid for been here'.

This. And there but for the grace of God go all of us.