To consider working in a men's prison

[TheQuickGoldSheep]

I'm in the Civil Service already, I'm on 24.8k, do overtime every week to earn more but they've confirmed this is stopping soon.

I've applied for a role in a men's cat B/C prison, completed the tests which were bonkers and waiting to hear if I've got an interview.

For 41h the salary is £34.800 a year so literally a 10 grand pay rise, I don't see how I'd achieve such a rise elsewhere. Of course it's for good reason, working some nights and weekends, no WFH like now, and that the role itself is tough.

The role does appeal to me as I have previously worked with 'challenging' people. I'm no stranger to being verbally abused and to the occasional punch, I am good at remaining calm and diffusing situations, I've worked in mental health roles and the role does attract me even though I know it'd be very challenging.

I'm sure I'd have a lot to learn and it'll probably be incredibly daunting. Would be grateful to hear if anyone's done it or knows people who do it.
The role does appeal but also I'm in the process of buying a home alone, my mortgage and bills will soon be costing me around £200 a month more than they currently do and overtime is stopping, so I'm worried.

I'm 33 now and I want to progress salary-wise.

Also, I've told two friends I've applied for this role and both started sniggering?
I'm quite a gentle, softly-spoken sort of person and I guess they're assuming prison officers can only be tough, threatening and intimidating?

You’ll probably get injured at some point, you’ll need eyes in the back of your head, have to be physically fit and not afraid to restrain and search in hostile environment.

Some will try and find out all your personal information, they’ll try and be you best mate and/or flirt with you to manipulate you.

They’ll go from nice to nasty if you say no, or the misses hasn’t turned up, or if they they are supposed to see their children and it’s cancelled. Or what they wanted for breakfast isn’t available.

You’ll also meet some who are interesting, kind, funny, sad, victims of abuse themselves and are in trauma, you might find a dead body from suicide.

No day will be the same, you have to be tough physically and mentally.

DB was in prison, he said the guards saved his life and made a huge difference to his future. He now works full time and has a family.

That's lovely to hear!

Prisoners are allowed access to hot water for tea and coffee. Generally there are urns.

Most violence is prisoner to prisoner.

A tin of tuna in a sock is generally the favoured weapon.

Most prisoners will try and avoid hurting a female staff member.

Officers tend to work in the smallest teams with the highest prisoner interaction times.

My mum's worried about sexual harassment from prisoners, I think that'll be one of many concerns in the grand scheme of things tbh.

I'd have no intentions of treating the prisoners as any lesser in any way just because they're in prison, I'd want to help them to make the best of their sentence and to improve their prospects.

Best of luck.

Please be prepared that beyond random violence, officers can sometimes be vulnerable to prisoners extorting, threatening or coercing them to help bring contraband into prisons. Once officers have done this, they can then be further extorted by the gangs.

Hope this isn't an issue, but of course it can be a huge difficulty especially for new officers.

They all have kettles in their cells. I've not known many instances of staff getting hot water thrown on them, but being 'potted' is more common. That's literally a bucket of urine thrown! It's still not common, but more common than kettle water.

My experience is Cat A. I have never been verbally abused or punched. That is a lot more common when I work in schools

@cannonballz agree far more violence in education and mental health settings.

Lovely..! I'm ok with bodily fluids I guess, having worked in dementia care. That said, I wouldn't want it chucked all over me!

Following

You sound like one of the few people suited for the role.

Nothing about it would appeal to me, nothing that I would find rewarding enough to exchange for most of my waking hours and I prefer a different type of "interesting" people. The job would definitely affect my mental health and sense of wellbeing. I know my limits. You seem to be capable of things that I'm not cut out for, including in your work history.

Have you considered training to be a Probation Officer?

How unbelievably refreshing on MN that the first few replies are from people who actually know what they're talking about and can offer solid advice rather than unfounded "I know bests"

I have yes, however I'm not sure the starting salary would be higher than what I'm on ATM. No roles in my area at the moment but I'll keep my eye out!

They're not your friends.

Well you’ll need to be aware it’ll happen, and blood and quite a few have Hep C, you’ll need vaccinations, not to mention the odd dirty protest and the possibility of restraining someone covered in all three…

Being kind will serve you well as long as you’re not naive, and you’ll need to be a good team member you all rely on each other for intelligence, safety, and you’ll need to be strong enough to challenge colleague behaviour if needed.

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I’m not an officer but we still receive various training such as anti corruption (it’s worth watching Time) which will help with any negative encounters. The prison I work in is woefully understaffed. Prisoners tend to behave better to female staff but there are still some worrying incidents. It’s my belief that the officers are underpaid given what they encounter on a daily basis. I’m sure others will agree that once you step inside it is a whole different world. Agree that you would be just about everything given the staffing levels. How are you with coping with blood and “code blue” (stopping breathing)?

I've worked with a few ex prison officers in my profession, have you considered residential child care? My local authority starting pay is between 30-35k ish including allowances, good opportunities for career progression. Very similar skill set required but possibly more rewarding. Good luck, you sound like you'll be an asset to the service

You adapt very quickly.... putting out cell fires one minute to having a laugh on the landing the next! You will see real mental health problems.... and where there is a language barrier it's not always easy to help.

Addiction is big. Drugs get inside despite best efforts unfortunately.

Night shifts can go either way.

Does the volunteering tend to be in the visitor centre?

If you're a parent then I'd really say not to.
A friend's husband works as a prison guard and they recently did a raid on a cell and a prisoner who didn't like him had my friend's address written on a piece of paper under his mattress.
I personally couldn't justify the risk to my family, no matter how small.

Op, you might be interested to read this:
https://www.wob.com/en-gb/books/alex-south/behind-these-doors/9781399707558?gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjw3tCyBhDBARIsAEY0XNndBlxC9U6TEVaEQGi-nk2eDN7K0S9rxD80WbPhRIk4w_jHXayt2DMaAq87EALw_wcB#GOR013249756

Really interesting book, I was really impressed by the author's (female) attitude particularly.