Working with prisoners while pregnant

[Misswhitman]

Hello, I started a job working in a women's prison (resettlement not officer) 6 weeks ago and discovered I was pregnant the weekend before my start date. I informed them on my first day and they seemed to take it well. A week later while on a houseblock surrounded by prisoners I nearly fainted. My boss told me to go to the doctor and they informed me I have low blood pressure and could be at risk from fainting. They advised no prisoner contact in a note. Since this point it has been implied that there is not enough for me to do in my role without seeing prisoners and that there would not be a position for me if I took my doctors advice. They have proposed I see prisoners in the library where there are other members of staff around. I still do not feel comfortable as there are no alarms in the area. I'm wondering if I'm being the one who is unreasonable but having worked in prisons for 5 years I've never known a woman be made to work with prisoners while pregnant.

Okay, you have to start getting professional advice as on the face of this looks like it might be a breach of the Equality Act. So don't resign...get advice. If in Suffolk the project Tackling Discrimination in the East www.iscre.org.uk/legal-services/tackling-discrimination-in-the-east/ can provide free legal help

If not...
Are you in a union?
If not check your house insurance to see if you have legal expenses insurance which covers discrimination?
Or ring ACAS on 0300 123 1100 or the www.equalityadvisoryservice.com (but bear in mind the latter are not trained lawyers and work for G4S who may be your employer).

The charity Pregnant then Screwed have a free helpline pregnantthenscrewed.com

or Maternity Action www.maternityaction.org.uk/advice-2/advice-line/

Failing that a local specialist employment lawyer may do a free half hour or there may be a local pro bono (free) law clinic in your area.
Check with www.lawworks.org.uk/legal-advice-individuals

So get specialist advice ASAP!! Good luck

Thanks so much everybody. I know what I'll be doing this weekend!

Gosh. Just read through. Don't resign (I see you're not yet). You have rights. Definitely explore them first with a professional. Some companies count on people not knowing their rights or not having the courage to stand up for them. Other companies are totally ignorant of their obligations.

FWIW I was signed off sick towards the end of my pregnancy as my employers were discrimating against me and it was so stressful I was having panic attacks and couldnt cope. I didn't stand up to them although I didn't manage to get a good exit package when I resigned as I couldn't face going back. I wouldn't judge you if you resigned I know how stressful it is.

Yeah I just feel like because it's so subtle I'm made to feel like I'm difficult. They're definitely playing on the guilt I have about starting a job and finding out I'm pregnant. Everything is a mess there at the moment. The manager has a grievance against her but has been promoted anyway, the team hate her and hate each other, everyone is fighting constantly. The maternity procedure has been completely ad hoc.

There were three pregnant in my team when I worked in a prison. We had to stop going on the wings and cell visits but could still run support groups and see prisoners in our offices. Are there other staff in the library? I think you should be fine if other staff are around but it's up to you to do what you feel safe with. Your bp may go up again as pregnancy goes on so you'll feel a bit better. X

The library is run by a prisoner. They have promised I will be escorted by a member of my team who will be doing her own appointments. My concern is that they are going to make me sit in a 'pod' which is about the size of a walk-in wardrobe. These do not have alarms and they were annoyed when I brought this up so now they are getting me a personal one (but they've given me women to see before they arrange this). Also with the way the team is I don't trust them not to wander off when I'm in one pod and they're in the other, not that they could help me much if anything were to happen. I also wonder about my ability to get out of these wardrobe rooms when I'm bigger.

I feel like unless I get a concrete 'no' on something they'll just push it, like they have so far.

I was "operational staff" in a prison when I was pregnant. From the day I found out I opted to have no sole prisoner contact and it was for me to decide whether I wanted contact with prisoners and whether this was escorted. However, when I was escorted this was always with operational staff. I would be concerned that civilian staff are not trained in the same way to be able to protect you and could only raise an alarm, whereas uniform staff can do more in terms of control and restraint.
That being said, my manager did make it difficult for me and quite often "forgot" I was pregnant and put me forward for tasks that were inappropriate and I felt could put me at risk. I just kept telling her. It did make me feel like a pain, I completely see where you're coming from, but I just kept weighing up causing a large organisation "trouble" and how I would feel if anything did go wrong..
it is really stressful but please don't give up without really pushing for what you need.

As an aside and potentially worth escalating is that any department in a prison would have made this decision about someone with a condition that could cause them to faint. This is a massive security risk and makes you and everyone in the prison vulnerable.

As others have said, check what your rights are and make sure you are assessed properly. If you're not in a union look into joining one- looks like you might need them at some point with this manager anyway!
Wishing you all the best with it and the pregnancy.

Sorry to hear this, I work in a prison (civvie) and would move somebody from prisoner contact in your situation. Don't resign, speak to the head of reducing reoffending. It takes companies a long time to recruit and vet people, so they should be looking for your maternity cover now. You can supervise them if they are in post before your maternity leave I'm sure.

The head of reducing reoffending is so far up my managers behind I would get nowhere with her. I am not employed by the private company that runs the prison I'm employed by an external agency. There was a woman who was 8 months pregnant when I started and she was employed by the prison, that was quoted to me when I got the fit note "she goes and sees prisoners so why you can't is difficult for us to understand".

Oh and they aren't getting maternity cover. The team is 2 down at the moment and apparently they can cope without a full staff.

Also when they told me there wasn't enough admin to keep me busy, my colleague told me that they put her on admin for 3 months when someone she knew became a prisoner. When I asked about this I was told that since this happened a new member of staff has been employed and they're worried that if I start doing admin she will rely too heavily on me and they will have to performance manage her when I leave for maternity.

I work in a men's prison and there is no way I'd work there pregnant.

Do get proper advice but if the head of reducing reoffending won't help then go higher. Private prison have had significant negative attention recently so if anything happened to you they would be picked up on in the media.

This sounds really difficult for you. People who work for external agencies can feel really isolated. I really can't see why they won't radio train you either, as far as I know there is no cost to anybody.

I just really need to get a grip and fight my corner. If they fire me they fire me, I was going to hand in my notice anyway so I might as well stand up for myself.

They are treating you terribly OP, I really feel for you. Can you speak to you MP? (They might be especially helpful if they are labour or lib dem since there has been so much political hooha about funding for prisons - just a hunch) or the citizens advice bureau or all the suggestions from justicewomen look great.

Don't give up!

I'm going back to the doctors tomorrow and to be honest I'm hoping they get so sick of me they sack me!

How are you OP

I'm very well thank you. I'm on my second and final week of sick leave. I woke up a week ago and had a panic attack so my doctor signed me off for 2 weeks. Already dreading going back but I've decided I am not working with prisoners and if they don't like it they can fire me.

Poor you,’ panic attacks are hey frightening. Please look after yourself and your baby

If they can’t make the workplace safe for you or give you a suitable alternative role to perform, they will need to suspend you on full pay. Don’t go sick, you’re not sick. This is for them to sort out or place you on paid suspension.

Don’t hand in your notice either. Tell them they will need to suspend you if they can’t make the workplace safe for you or provide an alternative.

Hi OP,
I was working in a prison when I became pregnant. I told my managers at around 10 weeks as I was due to start a new group with prisoners and I felt it was the right time to tell them. They initially said I could what I felt comfortable doing and I said I would see how I felt as time went on. The next day they had spoken to health and safety and told me I was not allowed any prisoner contact. I wasn't allowed on the wings to see staff I knew, I wasn't allowed in the gym, etc I was only allowed in our office. My job was all prisoner contact every day. I ran a group programme. So they tried to find me bits of admin work to do but there was hardly anything. I was so bored but I knew it was safest for me and my baby. I had to go off sick towards the end of my pregnancy as I had hip problems but it was all pregnancy related so I had no problems at all. I was told that one of the reasons I wasn't allowed on the wings was because they had tested the air quality and it was very poor!! My problems were when I wanted to return part time and I tried to fight it but sadly I had to hand my notice in and leave. I still feel gutted about it as I loved my job. I hope things are going ok for you!