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?

I have worked in prison for over 20 years - in Education - I know very many prison officers - like everywhere there are good and bad. The general public don ‘t know all the different roles they have. Most prisoners are not sex offenders or murderers - the courts have judged them and their loss of freedom is their sentence - not me looking down on them and thinking they are the dregs of society. The wages are ridiculous for PO and the the job they do and unfortunately many are leaving the service because of the terms and conditions - the other reason many are leaving is that they were employed during Covid when the prisoners were banged up 23 hours and it is now getting back to normal regimes which is a completely different scenario.

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

Depends what prison you have been in. Depends on the Category and depends of it's a male or female prison. I know of one woman who had a kettle of boiling water laced with sugar thrown over her face - - all designed to maim and disfigure. Her Co officer - male - slashed with a plastic blade (a sharpened toothbrush I think). Serious scars. Both ended up with PTSD and ended their career. Neither officer was even involved in the prisoners 'issue'. One had just come on shift. Behind all this was massive understaffing - leading to less association time for prisoners.
No all prisoners are sexy offenders - far from it. Some are in for crimes committed while under the influence, from homes where everyone is under the influence.
The idea of prison is to keep us safe from the prisoners - but also to rehabilitate them. Fat chance of rehabilitation and education if the number of officers are so low.

What you have a laugh and a banter with people like Ian Huntley and Roy whiting who murder children?

I have friends who work in prisons. One is quite high up now. I don't feel sorry for them because the pay is amazing and the hours regular. I do admire them for doing such socially useful jobs.

Your hysteria over this is bizarre OP. As pointed out several times by other posters, prisons are not full of the Ian Huntley types. And if that is all you can take from Blue79's post, I pity you.

You'll probably find 'the dregs of society' aren't even in prison. They are living among us, in plain sight. Quite a few of them in Downing Street.

May I recommend a book to ready OP?

”a bit of a stretch” by Chris Atkins

It’s a fascinating read written by someone who was convicted of fraud (if I remember correctly) and gives a real insight into prison life and prison officers.

To a certain extent yes. My exDH has been doing the job 20odd years. It’s not got to him too much, he’s been beaten up, bitten by a spider (bananas, it’s another story), dealt with the shit they throw at him (literally) and then just recently he had another ‘swinger’ suicide. For some reason it’s triggered PTSD and he’s on his knees looking at retiring out.

so yes, they deal with some rough shit.

Given your responses OP, I think you probably should have started a thread about child murderers as you seem to be fixated on them as the only type of prison inmate. We get it, you hate them. I think this thread has turned into the interesting discussion on prisons despite the OP, so thank you for starting it, despite that probably not being your desired outcome.

Someone I went to school with is head/runs a prison. I met MH mutual school friend last weekend and we were talking about her. I don't recognise the descriptions above, friend or vile to them. She's got 2 kids, and dies a good job, a challenging job.

bitten by a spider (bananas, it’s another story)

What does this mean?? Lol

I’ve worked in a prison before. It’s not as bad as you imagine it to be and infact, some of the inmates are quite nice. There are a lot of sad childhood stories to be told in there and it makes you view society in a new light.

you’re best off not knowing what they’ve done to end up in there however!

and no I don’t feel sorry for prison officers, a lot of them are power hungry bullies and at the end of the day, they chose that job.

This!!

“dregs of society” shows how uneducated you are and gives off a massive air of superiority. How do you think your life would have turned out if you had been brought into the world by a heroin addict mother who ended up in and out of prison throughout your childhood meaning you ended up in and out of the care system only to eventually end up back with your birth family who then introduced you to the world of drug dealers and crime OP? Or would you have “risen above” it all because you’re special?

“No all prisoners are sexy offenders”

that’s a rather unprofessional way of looking at it …

back to OP - what the fuck is your obsession with Ian Huntley all about? You do realise that the high profile killers like this are a tiny, minuscule percentage of who is actually in prison?!

Do you imagine the officers walk in each morning and see Huntley, Bronson, Hindley and The Yorkshire ripper all sat having breakfast together?

seriously, grow up.

One more thing!

You do realise OP that there are actually WORSE people in prison than Huntley that just didn’t make the news for whatever reason? People that have done things you couldn’t even imagine and they will be (or have been) released too (much easier to release people back into society if they have no media presence). You are walking amongst them. You just don’t know it because all you care about is what you see on the telly.

I have worked in a women's prison (education) the things that stayed with me:
how many of them were mums
how many of them were there because of making 1 stupid mistake
the amount of self harming

I know someone who does this job, but he has only been doing it for 4-5 years.

He is a really lovely, quiet, gentle person so I was surprised by his career choice tbh but he enjoys it.

The application process is quite competitive and the friends he applied with didn't make it through all the stages. He considers himself lucky to be in a stable, secure job and likes the shifts. People have mentioned the poor pay but I know he feels well paid, certainly compared to other members of his family. He doesn't have stellar qualifications so feels that this is a good job compared to the alternatives available to him.

He doesn't have a problem interacting with the prisoners - says he sticks to the rules there to protect him, remains professional and distant, has compassion but doesn't allow himself to over-invest in any one individual.

Maybe he'll feel differently in a few years.

That's what you took from that interesting, insightful post?

Thanks, @Blue79 . Very good post.

What you have a laugh and a banter with people like Ian Huntley and Roy whiting who murder children?

The aim on the wing is to keep a calm relaxed environment

Not to encourage other prisoners to attack ones they deem to be your " dregs of society"

Yes , there are times you can engage in conversation with offenders who are on VP wings - doesn't mean you plan to invite them round for a Sunday roast if they get released.

Keeping a settled environment helps them to engage in therapy , education and prison employment, prevents self harm , maintains respectful interactions with others within the prison- healthcare , clergy, legal etc and just makes for an easier day all round ..

Believe me - the prisoners you seem fixated by do not get an easy ride in there , you probably think it's all snooker tables , 3 meals a day and a tv next to the bed

I've seen these VP's smashed over the head with that cue , food is spat or pissed / shat in and those tv electrics used to strangle their necks or cocks

While the floors are covered in shampoo to prevent them being able to run away or for us to get in to break it up

What you have a laugh and a banter with people like Ian Huntley and Roy whiting who murder children?

You do seem oddly obsessed with famous cases. You know 99% of the people in prison don't make the papers.

I've worked in a few prisons and with ex-offenders. Not as an officer. You treat people as humans because that's the best chance they'll come out as humans. Unless you plan to execute every offender you need staff.

I worry about people who obsess about crime and criminals. It does seem like they are frequently just as trauma-impacted and violent as the people they obsess about.

DH is a prison officer. During the pandemic worked so many hours it was unbelievable ( and no was not paid overtime for all of it, a lot was TOIL, which he has never been able to use)

The hours are still ridiculous and the staffing levels are awful. The pay is not fantastic either.

He works in a Cat C prison and is an ex soldier. A lot of the other Officers are too.

DH has always said that he takes the prisoners as he finds them. Some are total idiots who only make their time in there worse for themselves others put their heads down and get their time done.
DH is training as a negotiator, he has that easy going soft spoken vibe about him that prisoners tend to listen too, although he won't be walked over either.

He always says that most are young men who had no chance in life from the start and tends to treat them as he woukd any other, until they prove otherwise.

There are days he comes home tired and dispirited although often that is because of that the way prisons are run rather than the prisoners.

I don’t feel sorry for them exactly but I think it’s a very challenging job. So I am grateful to them for the work they do just like I’m grateful to social workers, teachers, etc.

But most of the prison population aren’t child murderers. And aren’t ‘scum’. They’re human beings.

I work in a hospital and my experience is the opposite. The officers are always extremely polite to the hospital staff. They treat the prisoners fairly but are no nonsense as you would expect.

Not in the UK but through work (because of a service provided to prison staff) I had (email and phone non- face to face) dealings with prison officers. The number of them who are divorced is way higher than average. They're able to retire young with good pensions so I think there was a mentality of putting their lives on hold to hold out for a good pension at 50/55 and then feeling isolated from their families, burnt out, too old to really try anything new and all for a pension which although good is not life-changing.