"What Makes a Good Prison Guard?"

By Tommy Burns

Some of the most difficult jobs we have today require us to take care of our fellow human beings in some form or another - and prison

officers are at the top of that list. You have many inmates in our prisons today with morals

and then you have some without any, but the vast majority of our prisoners today are ordinary people who have made a mistake and

somehow have got caught up in the system with no idea how to get out. Many of these

prisoners receive no help in facing up to the things that lead them to prison in the first place and will sooner or later end up back in the

system after they are released.

Keeping this in mind, not any Joe Bloggs can come to work in prisons. We are packing some of the most

angry, confused and needy people that society has to offer in overcrowded prisons and expecting officers to do the job the way it is supposed to be done. Over the past eleven years I have seen the overcrowding make things worse for prisoners and prison officers alike.

Many inmates will say a good officer is one who will let them get away with murder, but deep down most know that isn't realistic because it would cause chaos. Rules are necessary to control our growing prison

populations and prison officers are needed to enforce those rules.

All of the good prison officers I know have a few things in common. Firstly, they all say their training didn’t prepare them for the pressures they faced during their first few months in the job. Some will say the training

they go through is watered down because if new recruits know the things that really go on and the things they will go through most would not stay on. When the new recruits actually start working they find

themselves thrown into many situations they haven’t been taught how to deal with. Some quit out of fear or are fired for violating rules, such as losing their temper and going in too heavy.

Those that succeed are those that follow the example of older officers. They learn to be firm but treat us with

respect; normally there is never any problem with these officers. I am not saying these good officers bow down for inmates, far from it. If an inmate misbehaves the officer will do what needs to be done, sometimes

taking advice from more experienced officers before acting. One example of the type of respect an officer will show an inmate while still doing his job is when they perform a search of our cells for contraband. They handle our property with care. A lot of the new officers handle our property as though it was rubbish. They

rip magazines and books, they step all over our bed sheets and leave our cells looking like a tornado went through it. This is unnecessary and destroys trust.

Another thing these good prison officers have in common is that they do not go out of their way to punish inmates. For example, on almost every unit I have been on there was always one or two officers who would walk around with a stack of report papers in their hand and by the end of the shift they have used them all.

This makes inmates anxious around them and leads to things spilling out of control.

Even when these good officers have to punish inmates, they will continue to be respected. The inmates

might not like being punished but they understand the rules. On the other hand, when an officer is abusive, lies, cheats or does other stuff the inmate knows about, like bringing in drugs or tobacco or any number of things, no inmate will really respect him. They may not challenge him directly but they will quietly not

respect him - and if he hands out a punishment for something he does himself, the inmates will hate this officer.

What makes a good prison officer is someone with an understanding that he is a public servant who is here to serve society well. He leaves his feelings, opinions, and his prejudices at the door but keeps hold of his principles. And he sticks to this whether he likes an inmate or not, whether he is in a bad mood that day or

not. I feel this self-discipline is what separates the criminal from the public servant. A good officer uses his experiences and learns from them. He treats inmates as human beings whilst keeping the prison safe for

everyone.