Am I too old to apply for prison officer role?

[vegetarianlouise]

Hi ladies,

Quick question to those familiar with prison work: I'm 55 yo, single, have been successfully self employed for the last 20 years, paid my taxes, no children and in good physical form (into fitness, look much younger for my age), as of lately I'm just starting to get bored of my line of work and all the knots and bolts that involves running a business, I long for financial security, a good pension and a change. In my line of self employment I deal with the public a lot so I'm quite tough as nails. My only work experience with law enforcement was a 5 years stint as an auxiliary community police officer 15 years ago (I quit because it was interfering with my self employment).

I'm thinking for applying as prison guard, would love to work with vulnerable women and young people, problem is I'm 55, not a UK national (I'm from the EU) but been living in the UK for a long time and have permanent residency. I have a clean record (not even a traffic ticket! lol)

Do I stand a chance of passing the application process at my age or should I just save my energy 🙁

Thanks all!

Louise

I get the impression you need to be quite physically strong. You get physically assaulted quite a lot

Thanks,that's also a concern of mine. I'm into fitness and strong (yoga and pilates), but I'm very slim (vegan type), not a big, tall, muscular or 'physically intimidating' person by any means. I'm a quick thinker and good at de escalating situations as it's part of my actual job, but I'm a 'petite' 5'6 tall 😥

I know someone who career changed to be a prison officer in his 40s. He's not hugely physically intimidating or fit, he's about 5'10", and a fairly average middle aged dad of teenagers who also has an old injury.

He works in a Cat A men's prison with high security and high profile individuals and loves it. He's done an additional qualification to take on a specialist role within the prison since.

Apply, worst case scenario they turn you down

Ex prison officer of 23 years here - its a decent career and the pension is good, but bare in mind you won't accumulate much of one with the amount of reckonable service left available to you, so I wouldn't do it if this is your biggest concern.

Day to day, it has its moments but on the whole its quite a boring job! Same routine every day broken up by moments of violence. I was assaulted a few times, some of my colleagues more so. Got tired of it in the end and made a career change a few years ago. Happy to answer any questions though!

Thanks for your response. I plan to work for at least 20 more years (but not sure if that's possible in prison job), and yes... financial stability and a cozy pension are very high priorities to be honest. I've managed to run a business quite successfully for 20 years (and save money!) so closing my business is quite a risk move (financially speaking) hence the need for good pension if I change careers, otherwise it's not worth it for me.

Not directly comparable but my dad was a prison officer. Absolutely no chance of working in that role until 75. Not even close.

I work in a prison (not an officer) and there are a number of unfit looking officers, a number of older ones and a number of foreign nationals. Anyone who is keen to do a good job and maintain security while helping to facilitate prisoners' rehabilitation would be welcomed by me (not that it would be my decision).
It looks a challenging job dealing with a lot of severe mental health issues and self-harm and people arguing the toss with you all day.

There are many times fewer female prisoners than male. Most prisoners are men. Would you be happy working in a mens prison?

You do need to be quite physically fit. If you can pass the bleep test you should be ok. Also they used to have an eyesight qualification, idk if they still do.

Do you tend to act quite impulsively? You are running a business that is making a living for you and you plan to work for the next 20 years, until you're 75, working in the prison service, something which everyone knows is a job where you have to be physically fit and agile. I really doubt you'd be accepted but have to wonder why you think it would be suitable.

You absolutely cannot work beyond retirement age as a prison officer, even if they would let you you wouldn't want to. To physically restrain a man in his 20s when you are in your 40s is really hard work, to do it in your 70's would be impossible. I would be doing this several times a DAY, its not a rarity unfortunately. Most of my colleagues started failing the annual fitness test once they hit their early 60's too, not because they were unfit per se, but there is an element of it that is for agility and lots of people by then had knee issues. This then meant being redeployed to other roles with less pay as they couldn't pass it. Its a very physically demanding job.

If you are 55, you will be allowed to work to 67 if you make it that far, but then have to retire, hence my comment about not enough reckonable service to provide much of a pension.

Have you considered training as a probation officer? You work with the same client group but obviously without the risks/physical element that comes in a prison officer role?

My aunt is a prison officer. It's a horrible job. The prisoners generally like her but she still ends up beaten and assaulted because you are stuck trying to intervene between fighting men a lot of the time. Don't go into it thinking you'll be with a bunch of gentlemen crooks like Porridge

My best friend applied and was selected to be a prison officer last year. Shes not anymore. The training was some of the hardest she's ever had to do. She's relatively fit but she was exhausted at the end of the day and she's only 34. There were a range of applicants from 18 to someone in his 50's who was retired from the army. Quite a few dropped out part way through training.
Youve also got to have very thick skin to be able to work in that sort of environment.