Trainee prison officers ‘encouraged to be more violent’ in sexist graduate scheme that sees a third drop out

7 comments

1. The sexism is one thing, but teaching how to be aggressive and the realities of having to get physical with prisoners is part of the job they’ve signed up to.

2. What a load of wallop this article is. The prison system is understaffed and over worked. I’ve worked at 3 jails in the last 5 years and they are all struggling with the exact same thing. THERE IS MOT ENOUGH STAFF ON THE LANDINGS.

   It’s a naturally very male dominant industry being that 90% of prisoners are… MEN. men that are mentally unstable, below average IQ, manipulative and outright dangerous. New staff get walked all over by experienced prisoners who know how to manipulate staff to get what they want.

   It’s a high stress environment (statistically a prison officer is one of if not the most stressful job in the UK where average life expectancy is dramatically reduced for career officers) you have to be on high alert for your entire shift and you’re often expected to be in 3 places at once from both management and prisoners. You’re constantly pushed from pillar to post and nobody cares about the staff.

   All of the experienced staff are leaving or have left, at the two year mark you’re an “experienced” officer these days. The blind are leading the blind. The prison system needs HUGE investments, the justice system is broken, you’re expected to rehabilitate prisoners with 15-30 year sentences! What a joke…. You can’t rehabilitate and punish it needs to be one or the other!!

   Staff are not given nearly enough recognition for the chaos and challenges they face on a daily basis and articles like this make a mockery of the hard work they do every day.

3. How do they have access to boiling water and a kettle. It’s a prison.

4. I worked in a prison, the staff were by far a bigger problem than the cons. From day 1 I had comments made about me every day, gossip spread about me, sexual harassment, workplace bullying etc, sometimes in front of the Custodial Manager as well. All culminating in a groping and sexual assault from a colleague in front of inmates as a ‘joke’. I spent the rest of the afternoon out on the wing because I actually felt safer out there.

5. The “teaching officers to be more violent” claim is bollocks. It’s about proportionality – a typical female prison officer CAN justify more violence to defend themselves in a male prison than a male officer. Why? Because of the disparity in strength and size – it’s the same for police and every other law enforcement service in this country.

   For example, if you need to restrain a 4’10” woman and you’re a 6’5” bloke, she would need to be at a heightened stage of aggression (throwing punches at you/someone else, carrying or implying that they’re carrying a weapon etc) for you to use a baton or PAVA for it to be justified.

   Whereas, if you are a 4’10” woman and you need to restrain a 6’5” bloke, it’s much easier to justify swinging a baton or using PAVA even without that violence. Instead, the factors are lesser than the woman in the previous hypothetical – I.E, if a man is squaring up, shoving and so on – then the force used can be the same as the previous example despite less aggression.

6. We really need to stop this silliness. There clearly are jobs more suitable for men than women. There has to be a nuance. Not every job has to be 50:50.

   As a woman I prefer men in the military, police, prison guards, oil rigs. Everywhere where you need to be big and strong.

   And the height requirement for the police should be reinstated.

   For the women complaining in the article: stop being such a wuss and find another job. It’s a tough job, being polite and sensitive to work colleagues is the least significant requirement to become a prison guard.

   Or at least should be.

7. The grad scheme has been a failure since the jump. Wrong kind of people without the necessary skills being lied to about what they are walking into.

   The sexism is no where close to what it was when I started but the progress is slow and I certainly would not encourage my daughter to come anywhere near the job.