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Earlier in the year, the government started a massive recruitment drive for prison officers. The ads could be seen on red buses, bus stops, heard on the radio and seen on Youtube and TV.

This is positive. We need more prison officers.
Unfortunately, much of the money spent will have been wasted money, as many of the new officers recruited will leave within a year.

With so many things the government does when it comes to prison, the issue is always the same. This recruitment drive is another attempt to address the symptoms of a problem at surface level, without having to address the root causes. The result, of course, will be that it won’t work.

There aren’t enough prison officers not because nobody wants to do the job, but because too many who start the job leave soon after.
It’s not a recruitment issue, but a retention issue.

And this is because the job is awful.
It wouldn’t have to be awful, but it is awful because of the state of our prisons.

Whenever we discuss the state of our prison system we mostly talk about prisoners, their victims and society, but we hardly ever talk about prison officers and the other people who work in prisons. They are the unseen victims and suffer the most from a dysfunctional system.

I saw this first-hand when I was prisoner in some of the worst prisons, such as Wandsworth and the foreign national prison Maidstone.
Because nothing worked, officers were not able to do their jobs properly. All they could do was put out fires – like being on a boat surrounded by approaching crocodiles from all sides –rather than actually run the prison.
They had to constantly face anger from prisoners who let out their frustration at them, not being able to understand that officers were the victims of a shitty system just as much as they are.

There is no question that in a better system with a functioning regime and better conditions, violence directed at prison officers would be significantly reduced.
A better prison system would make the job of a prison officer better in every way. And it would reduce their risk of injury and even death.

Surely it should be in our interest to improve the working conditions of those working a dangerous job that aims to help others and to improve society?

In Norway, training for prison officers takes two years.
Here, it’s 6 weeks or even less. How can you be prepared for this job after less than 6 weeks?

Imagine a different situation where prison officers are not just trained to put out fires and thrown into the lion’s den as quickly as possible, but where they will be trained in criminology, psychology, mental health, addiction, mentoring, and much more.
With prisons that run structured regimes and are well staffed, so that officers could actually spend time with prisoners and help them resolve their issues and turn their lives around.

All the problems the prison system faces all come back to the same core issue.

Whether we talk about drug misuse, violence, high reoffending rates, prisoners’ self-harm and suicide rates or working conditions; all call for the same solution.

Isn’t it time we finally address the problem by the root rather than to keep tinkering around the edges?

Ads to recruit more officers are fine, but unless the actual job role and prison conditions will be improved, they will be mostly a waste of money.