My Job: ‘I like breaking the prison officer stereotype’

Covid has remodeled the working world. Easing restrictions, healthcare considerations and cash worries have all left individuals questioning what they do and why they do it.

As a part of the ‘My Job’ collection we’re investigating how totally different individuals discover objective of their each day work.

Mica has labored as a prison officer in HMP Portland, in Dorset, for the final 5 years. It’s a Category C prison, which implies it’s safer than open prison, however prepares prisoners for all times exterior, with coaching for work.

It homes as much as 530 males aged 18 and over and Mica’s additionally spent a stint working as a supervising officer.

I at all times wished to be in uniform as a child. A variety of my buddies really labored in the prison service after I bought older and I discovered their tales actually attention-grabbing – it appeared like day by day was fully totally different, whereas that was actually lacking from the job I used to be in at the time, in immigration.

The concern of the unknown did maintain me again a bit – in addition to the stigma round prisons. I assumed I needed to be huge and muscly to do the job, however having joined it is fully not like that.

What gave me the push in the finish, was wanting a bit extra stability.

The course of total included an internet utility type, totally different situation exams that work out the way you work together with individuals and what your pure reactions to issues may be.

In individual, you do issues like a fundamental health check -a bleep check – however you do not want {qualifications}.

The important precedence is having good communication expertise, desirous to rehabilitate individuals and having a real curiosity in them as effectively… we home prisoners who may very well be 21, or we have even bought somebody who’s 80 years outdated.

If you may speak to individuals you are half-way there. Because lots of the time you can be on the wing, doing key-worker classes, or making an attempt to steer them to go to training or the health club… no two days are the similar, and actually it is about being open-minded.

Source: National Careers Service

It is such a superb feeling to interrupt a stereotype!

There’s an enormous stigma round prisons… individuals can generally be very shocked after I inform them my job as a result of they consider prison officers as huge, bald, tattooed guys – and that is undoubtedly not me!

But I can not stress sufficient – it is all about the communication expertise. I can not cease speaking generally, whether or not that is the proper or fallacious factor!

You take a look at locks, doorways, fences – it would not look like a pleasant place. Don’t get me fallacious – you want these issues for security. But whenever you come into HMP Portland and see the workshops, healthcare, the employees and the rugby pitches… it is like a group.

You do not turn out to be buddies with the prisoners. There is clearly a boundary that does must be there. But I do try to assist and exit of my means, as a result of usually somebody’s by no means finished that for them earlier than.

Once I had a key-worker session with a prisoner that could not learn or write. In time, he managed to write down a letter to household. For him, it was huge. He smashed it and we each felt nice about it – these are little issues to individuals on the exterior they may not take into consideration, however they imply quite a bit.

When you’re taking this job, there are at all times scary issues that would occur. I’d hate to say it by no means occurs, however these incidents are few and much between.

One of the hardest issues for me is definitely seeing a prisoner come again in.

You thought you may need put all the little steps in to assist them a lead a superb life, however once they come again they are often fairly dismissive as a result of they assume they’re going to maintain coming again. The actually vital factor there’s to maintain chipping away at it… it may be actually powerful however I believe it is vital not to surrender.

Source: Ministry of Justice

Our turnover fee is sort of excessive – moreso now. There are lots of [other job] alternatives on the market at the second.

At HMP Portland, for instance, we’d wrestle for recruitment due to the space [we’re located] and the place we are able to decide from.

I do assume although that lots of people be part of as a prison officer, after which go on to totally different roles [in the prison service] like a supervising officer, a canine handler, a workshop teacher… we lose quite a bit however they go into totally different departments as a result of there are lots of alternatives and other people realise there are different routes they may wish to go down.

If I might enhance one thing, it might be having extra employees. That’s males, females – everybody from all totally different backgrounds. People carry their very own talents and having individuals from a mixture of locations is useful for the prison and prisoners.

In the pandemic, we had PPE put in place, hand-washing stands, and social distancing. [Social distancing] was very troublesome for workers even on the exterior, by no means thoughts speaking that to a inhabitants of prisoners who did not know a lot about it.

We’re a confined area and needed to mirror all the measures on the exterior. If there was a lockdown, we had been in lockdown. The stigma round vaccinations was actually exhausting too, and I do know lots of institutions struggled with that.

I do genuinely really feel that the prison service did a superb job with controlling the pandemic total.

Now I can not wait to have the prison operating correctly – having healthcare appointments versatile for all the wings, focus teams, visits operating to a small capability.

When restrictions come to an finish too, we’ll hopefully have household days reopen, which provides the alternative for prisoners to have one-to-ones with their youngsters. There’s all these belongings you’d by no means assume you get in prison, like bouncy castles and face-painting. It’s completely buzzing. The prisoners actually take pleasure in it and the probability to get to be that father determine, which they’ve not had for 2 years now [due to the pandemic] – and it is good for workers to get to know their background.

Just go for it. You do not need to be the cleverest individual ever. If you are coronary heart’s in the proper place, you are half-way there.

You can find yourself being a mom, a sister – all types of issues to prisoners. And, what’s actually vital to me as effectively, is that you would be able to construct actually good relationships with the employees. In Portland, it is a terrific group to be concerned in… I’ve made buddies for all times.

This interview has been condensed for readability.