Anyone work in a prison?

[Night409]

I’m just wondering if anyone has any experience working in a prison and what the pros and cons are.

I’ve seen a job advertised which I’m really interested in but I’ve never been in a prison or know anyone who’s worked there before.

It’s in the education part and so there will be no night shifts.

I’d love to hear your experience good and bad.

I worked in a men's prison in the medical team for 7 years. I loved it. I didn't want to leave but I had to move to another county for other reasons.
It's very noisy with lots of shouting and cat calling but as long as you ignore it and act in a dignified way and have a sense of humour you should be fine.

I worked as a prison officer in a cat b men's prison for 5 years. I was spat at, kicked, had urine thrown at me (thankfully it missed), had to restrain people weekly, was left on constant watches for over 15 hours, had to cut down hanging people, had to give cpr on a guy who was clearly already dead, was verbally abused, etc etc. All the staff experienced this. Don't do it.

Working in the education department will be different to being a prison officer on the wing, DH used to work in a custody mental health team/psych team. It was a cat A prison and he worked with some very high risk men, he had threats etc made, but never physical attacks, the prison officers had it much worse, as @Fantasia99 describes. There was also a lot riding on his assessments, parole etc, whereas that wouldn't be the case for someone working in ETE, they just tend not to engage if they don't want to.
I used to work in probation and still work in an adjacent field, and you couldn't pay me enough to be a prison officer. I would consider other roles in custody though. Just a suggestion but have you considered probation roles at all?

I think the prison I worked in was especially bad. The education staff were barricaded in twice by prisoners in the time I worked there, one had their hand slashed with a razor, one was punched in the face, etc. Awful place. Sad thing is most of the men in there are alright, it's 2% of them that make life difficult.

@Fantasia99 oh Christ that sounds horrific. Reminds me of when I had to go to forest bank for a while for work that was grim.
Our local is a Cat B and chronically overcrowded, it's state run and has been on 23 hour lock up for years. Makes me laugh when people say they're like holiday camps, not like any centre parcs I've ever been to! You're right though it's a nightmare minority that cause most of the trouble

Honestly they're awful and half the people in there shouldn't be.

Wow OP I think we must have been looking at the same job. Was it more of a managerial position?

I thought about asking on here too, but then decided it was not the job for me.

I have done some education projects at Belmarsh Prison.
I was only there for a week each time but it was very rewarding. I can’t compare my experience to someone working full time in the education dept though.
We were locked in the room with the prisoners which was slightly unnerving at first (don’t lean on the panic buttons by accident!). The men were polite and there was no trouble.

Don't do it, I was a prison officer for 18 years, it was just as previous posters have described. At the time I was well paid, but now the pay is terrible and it's an awful job.

My friend was a nurse in a men’s prison ….she said the smell was vile ….like a big hamster cage smell

Lots of men together with inadequate ventilation is bound to cause a ‘smell’. My son is in prison and says there’s a distinctive smell, mainly of body odour and cooking but you get used to it. It would be a shame for someone to be put off a worthwhile prison job because somebody thinks the prisoners all smell. Prison staff aren’t paid enough and lack of staff is a real problem.

Plenty of overtime though!

I work in prison education and love it. It's not for everyone but suits me much better than school teaching. I've always felt safe but I'm also careful to stick to safety guidelines and keep my wits about me. The vast majority of learners are polite and respectful and you can boot the ones that aren't off your course pretty quickly unlike in a school.
You won't be expected to restrain anyone, or break up any fights. That's the prison officer's job which is not one I could do. Prisoners are generally nicer to civilian staff than officers.
You could ask for a visit before you apply to get a feel for the place to see it's for you. Recruitment is an issue in prison education so they'd probably be ok with this.