A Social Service of Great Importance: Recognising the role of prison staff in rehabilitation

Abbey Bertelsen18th January 2022

PRI has recognised that prison staff – including prison, correctional and detention officers – are key actors in the successful rehabilitation of people in prison around the world. Positive relations between people in prison and prison officers are crucial in encouraging pro-social behaviour, fostering an environment of respect, and generally creating safer conditions for the public, staff and people detained in prisons. Nevertheless, people working in prisons face one of the harshest, most challenging and stressful working environments in the world. Despite this, many prison officers feel that they are not respected, are underpaid, and often unsafe.

I have been working as a prison officer in England for approximately two years. I cannot account for the perceptions of all prison officers, nor are my experiences entirely synonymous with all other officers, due to prisons varying greatly not only from country to country but also prison to prison. However, I do believe that my experiences do align with many in this profession around the world.

What does a prison officer do?

Although in some countries there is limited contact between prison officers and people in prison, in many, the role of the prison officer is much more than simply locking and unlocking doors. Prison officers are operational in that they facilitate a regime for people in prison. This essentially means prison officers ensure that people are unlocked from their cells to meet their basic needs, such as access to showers and exercise, for association, where people on the wing are able to socialise with others and play games such as pool or dominoes, and to be able to attend education or work. Prison officers are also responsible for maintaining security and safety of the establishment, which requires skills in assertiveness and appropriate use of power. However, just as importantly, prison officers are expected to form positive rapports with people in prison, have emotional intelligence, communicate effectively, problem-solve, de-escalate situations, and respond to violence and self-harm calmly and professionally. Over the course of the last two years, I have adopted the roles of not only an officer concerned with security but also as a coach, mentor, teacher and listener to name a few. Good prison officers help encourage positive behaviour, rehabilitation and model pro-social behaviour themselves. Thus, the role of the prison officer is highly skilled.

Common challenges for prison officers

i) Societal perceptions of prison officers

Despite the complexities of their role, prison officers globally are considered as having low social standing in society. Prison officers ‘see themselves as part of an unvalued, unappreciated occupational group’. Negative stereotypes are often associated with the role. News articles, films and TV shows most often depict prison officers as being lazy, unintelligent, uncaring and corrupt. This negative media contributes to building a damaging perception of prison officers, which, in my experience, is hardly representative and far from the truth of most officers. It further emphasises the lack of societal understanding surrounding the role.

Observations:

More awareness and education surrounding the prison officer role needs to be communicated to wider society. This could be achieved through more positive media such as news articles and positive portrayals of officers in tv and film.
Governments can increase respect for the role by showing that they value the work of officers by increasing their wages and highlighting their work in public forums. For example, the COVID-19 vaccination programme in the UK fails to recognise prison officers or people in prison as a priority group for vaccinations, despite the known susceptibility of prison environments to disease and the inability of officers to work from home. This disregard for the health and lives of officers and their families shows a lack of care and respect towards officers and the work they do.

ii) Recruitment, training and salary

International standards recognise that prison staff, in their recruitment, are more than simply security staff but are expected to be positive, pro-social influential figures for people in prison, to aid them in their rehabilitation. The UN Nelson Mandela Rules, which set out the minimum international standards for treatment in detention, state that there needs to be “careful selection” of prison staff “since it is on their integrity, humanity, professional capacity and personal suitability for the work that the proper administration of prisons depends” (Rule 74.1). The Rules also require prison administrations to raise awareness among staff and the public that prison staff perform “a social service of great importance” and go on to state that prison staff should have civil service status, have an adequate standard of education, and be provided training prior and during service as prison officers (Rules 74, 75).

At the regional level, the Council of Europe adopted a Code of Ethics for Prison Staff in 2012 which highlighted values of accountability, integrity, respect and protection of human dignity and more. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights requires continuous training, select skills to be held by prison officers, and an emphasis on preparing people in prison for release.

limited career progression opportunities and low salaries do not reflect the important and valuable nature of the work

Despite international legislation and the known benefits that officers can bring in achieving rehabilitative goals, global recruitment of prison officers is often uncompetitive and training for the role can be brief and, at times, inadequate. In many countries, the role is made unattractive through limited career progression opportunities and low salaries that do not reflect the important and valuable nature of the work. As a result, recruitment of officers does not necessarily attract the right people for the role. Moreover, in many countries around the world, prisons are run by the military or police, which have been known to foster a punitive environment for people in prison as opposed to working towards aims of rehabilitation.

Saying this, my own experience has been different. I chose to become a prison officer with the Unlocked Graduate programme. This is a two-year training programme for university graduates that also offers a Masters degree in Leadership and Custodial Environments. Participants in the programme are chosen based on their perception that all individuals are capable of change and rehabilitation. By ensuring officers recruited are committed to goals of rehabilitation and approach people in prison with that mind-set, the quality of life of those in prison will improve. The programme also provided an initial six weeks of intensive training, followed by continuous training across the two years in the role. We were reminded that the role should not be viewed as a job, but as a profession and to always look to develop our skillset and consider career paths. I believe this made the prison officer role more desirable and emphasised that the role is highly skilled. This is reflected by a study in Norway, where there is more focus on prison officer education and training compared to other countries, which revealed that “prison officers express pride and job satisfaction in their profession, and satisfaction with their education.”

Observations:

Globally, salaries for prison officers should increase to reflect the important and challenging nature of the work, and should be in line with other frontline public service roles.
Recruitment of officers should become more competitive with a focus on hiring those who promote the values of rehabilitation, decency and humanity.
Training should be robust and continuous throughout an officer’s career, especially given the high likelihood of emotional burnout as a result of the demanding nature of the job.
Training ought to not only focus on practical skills such as in security and safety, but also focus on inter-personal skills and on organisational goals and values.
Offer educational qualifications to increase respect for the role and attract more potential officers.
Move away from military run prisons.
Increase support and training during the first year for new officers.
Offer competitive increases in pay in promotions to retain experienced staff looking to make a long-term career as a prison officer.

iii) The physical and working environment

The general physical environment in most prisons around the world is typically oppressive, not only for people in prison but also the staff who work there. Although most staff get to leave the prisons, they can also be affected by the surroundings both physically and mentally. Many prisons worldwide are unhygienic, have poor ventilation and are often overcrowded. All these factors make prisons very susceptible to diseases, making officers as well as people in prison vulnerable to outbreaks of disease and illness. As PRI noted in Global Prison Trends 2021, prison staff in some countries contracted COVID-19 at rates higher than the prison population, such as South Africa, where rates of contraction were 7 times higher among staff.

as prison officers you must always be aware of your surroundings for security and safety reasons

On top of the physical environment, the working environment is stressful as well. Imagine starting as a new prison officer on a loud wing with 80 or more people and only two other members of staff. Imagine responding to multiple requests at once. As prison officers, you are taught dynamic security, which means you must always be aware of your surroundings for security and safety reasons. Constantly being in this state is draining and places one in a heightened state of stress. Couple this with an alarm going off and your body responds with adrenaline. When you respond to an alarm you do not know what scene you are going to come across and you have to act quickly. When you get involved in separating a fight, you do not know if you will come out of that fight without injury. On the same day, you might also respond to an incident of self-harm, be first on scene at a suicide attempt, or maybe, actual suicide. Our job is to respond calmly, professionally and decisively to deal with these situations. However, these events can have severe impacts on prison officers from general stress to trauma and other mental illnesses. A study on prison officers in the UK revealed that 74% of respondents had indicators for various mental health problems and a study in Massachusetts, USA revealed that the suicide rate for corrections officers was 7 times higher than the national suicide rate. The mental health toll that these working conditions can have on officers is severe.

The issue of understaffing is important to highlight here. Firstly, national statistics on prisoner to staff ratios must be read with caution as they are collected and reported differently in different countries, and often include healthcare, administrative, and other support staff – in which case, they do not represent the prisoner to prison officer ratio. For example, in the UK, as of 2016 (the latest figure available), the prisoner to staff ratio was 4.8 detainees per prison officer, in male facilities. However, I worked on a wing with 80 people with two other members of staff. There are other officers in other parts of the facility but they will only come if an alarm is called. Understaffing can cause emotional burnout and is detrimental to building positive relations with people in prison as you have less time to address each individual’s concerns. This can lead to poorer relationships and more resentment towards staff, which in turn leads to more conflicts and even assaults on staff. This equally is a major cause for staff to leave the job and why retention rates of prison officers are low.

Observations:

Improve physical prison conditions to benefit both staff and people in prison by investing in more modern architecture that promotes space, air ventilation and natural light.
Ensure mental health awareness and support systems are in place for officers.
Create ‘safe’ spaces for staff including comfortable staff breakout areas.
Improve staffing levels. This can be done equally by increasing pay, career progression and support for staff, but also by reducing the prison population.
Consider statistics carefully in order to reflect an accurate reality of prison officers’ experience on the ground, such as with prisoner to staff ratios.

iv) Management

if prison officers feel valued, trusted and respected and are treated fairly by management, they are more likely to treat people in prison with the same values

An important factor amongst prison officers is how they feel to be perceived by management, both within the prison and the wider prison system. Officers can sometimes be made to feel as though they are only ‘numbers’, are easily replaceable, and not cared for. There is a general consensus amongst officers that people in ‘headquarters’ or management or policy positions do not always understand the role and often put forward policies that are impractical or are “tick-box” exercises to meet their own quotas. This creates a divide and distrust between officers and management and sometimes makes officers resistant to change even for policies that would be effective and positive. Furthermore, if prison officers feel valued, trusted and respected and are treated fairly by management, they are more likely to treat people in prison with the same values.

Observations:

Positive and humane leadership by senior managers is important; prison officers should be more involved in decision-making processes so their voices are heard and they are not seen or treated as “numbers”.
Improve relations by increased dialogue and care systems for staff, for example through increased communication with staff, appropriate shift patterns, post-incident support, and improvement of working conditions in prisons.
Invest in officers and career paths within prisons, so that management and policy makers will have hands-on experience of prisons in order to put forward practical and realistic policies.

Conclusion

investing in prison officers means investing in the human rights of people in prison

The role of the prison officer is highly skilled but has been unrecognised for too long around the world. This is reflected in the lack of data concerning prison officers. More needs to be done to promote the role and improve working conditions of staff. A good prison officer can have huge impacts on the rehabilitation of people in prison and in ensuring that the human rights of those in prison are protected. Therefore, governments around the world need to pay more respect to and invest in this profession, as the benefit both to individuals in prison and society in general will be vast. Being a prison officer is hugely rewarding work and you get to create positivity and hope in negative spaces. I love my role as a prison officer, however, I have seen so many staff disillusioned and discouraged by the system. I have seen people in prison sad to see good staff leave because the role is high risk, underpaid and lacks sufficient support systems. International human rights bodies need to put more pressure on governments to consider these observations as investing in prison officers means investing in the human rights of people in prison.

A Social Service of Great Importance: Recognising the role of prison staff in rehabilitation

What does a prison officer do?

Common challenges for prison officers

Conclusion

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