Salford University

Centre for
Prison Studies
(SUCPS)
Dr. Elaine Crawley
Director
www.sucps.salford.ac.uk

'Prison Officer
Training: What is
'enough'? What should
it look like? How can
we best deliver it?

Structure of presentation
The work of the Salford University
Centre for Prison Studies
The need for professionalism in
prisons
Prison officer training: some
international comparisons &
criticisms
The Future: Where do we want to
be?

The Centres Aims,

Objectives and Mission
The challenges for those working in
prisons, and the range of concerns
relating to imprisonment itself, have
never been greater.
Indeed, the relentless rise in the
prison population (and the increasing
diversity of that population) both in
the UK and in many other countries
poses many dilemmas for those who
run prisons and work in them.

 It

is in this context that Salford

Universitys Centre for Prison
Studies (SUCPS) is encouraging
prison practitioners, prison
officials and policy makers to
exchange ideas with us.
We hope that ideas- sharing will
result in truly collaborative
partnerships which can improve
the lives of both prisoners and
prison staff.

Priority Research topics of

the Centre
Prison officer training and welfare
The management of elderly prisoners
Security and risk management in prisons
Young people in prison and detention
Ethnic minority prisoners and foreign
nationals
Women and babies in prison
The effects of imprisonment
Prisoner health and resettlement

Radicalisation

prisons

and extremism in

Priority: Prison Officer

Training & Welfare
In

this presentation I am going to

focus on the first of these priorities
the working lives of prison officers.
Prison officers work in highly complex
settings, and with societys most
vulnerable and damaged people.
Unfortunately and despite their
central role in day-to-day prison life prison officers are an occupational
group whose skills and commitment
have so often been undervalued and
ignored.

In various ways, prison officers

contribution to making exprisoners less likely to commit
crimes is constantly
undermined. This is a sad state
of affairs, since the uniformed
prison officer is often the only
positive role-model a prisoner
sees.

Why have prison officers

been undervalued and
ignored?
Largely

invisible (high walls)

Not good at promoting what
they no (little opportunity)
Public perception (that officers
are stupid, brutal, uneducated)
Skills go un-noticed
Complexity of job / skills base
unknown

Imprisonment Today
Managing

prisoners - > caring

for prisoners
Turn-key / Screw - > Prison
Officers
This has involved a process of:
Specialization and
Professionalization
Why the need for either?
Because

Increasingly diverse population (elderly,

young, foreign national, lifers, mentally ill etc)
Increasing emphasis on treatment (eg Sex
Offender Treatment) and rehabilitation so
that the offender can become a law-abiding,
productive citizen
Increasing requirement on the part of prison
officers to be knowledgeable about prison law,
prisoners rights, decency agenda, prisoner
needs (esp. minority populations noted above).
Professionalisation is directly related to the
quality of staff morale, recruitment and
retention of the right staff

Training v Education

Training is not the same as education

Training allows you to do a specific job
properly
Education, however, has a range of
benefits, because a better informed
citizen with a better understanding of
the social world is more likely to be
More tolerant
Less racist
Less sexist
Less homophobic

Frequent polls conducted across Europe

show that intolerance, prejudice and
discrimination fall as levels of education
rise. So people with secondary school
qualifications are more tolerant than
those with no qualifications, people with a
degree-level qualifications are more
tolerant that those with no such
qualifications.
It is perhaps not easy to see why this
correlation should be so strong or so
consistent, unless we think in terms of
the generalised benefits of education i.e.
the ways in which education differs from
training.

So, a better educated person is

likely to have a better
understanding of how the social
world works, is more likely to
feel (to some extent) in control of
his or her life and less likely to
fall prey to fears and insecurities
and fall for extreme views.

Prison Officer Training:

International Differences

England and Wales:

Current Recruitment and
Training Process
In England and Wales, prison officers are
not required to have any formal
qualifications. In the 1990s the Prison
Service introduced a requirement that all
applicants have five O-levels or GCSEs,
including English and Maths.
This expectation was slowly abandoned,
however, as it became clear the number
of recruits was falling, especially in in
London and south-east England, where
livign standards are higher.

So now.
The current recruitment process for
applicants to work in public sector
prisons begins with a one-hour
online numeracy test, completed at
the time of application. If the result
is satisfactory, applicants are
invited to a Recruitment and
Assessment Day.

At the assessment centre prospective

recruits complete a 20 minute
numeracy test and a 45-minute
language testwith separate elements
covering reading comprehension and
completing standard forms and writing
skills- together with four 10-minute
role play simulations. These are not
prison-based; rather they are intended
"to measure the core behaviours needed
to be an effective prison officer."

Training is carried out at one of

nine centres in England and
Wales and the prison at which the
trainee officer will be based. It
lasts eight weeks (reduced from
12 weeks). It includes shadowing
a more senior officer, discussion
groups and some physical work in
control and restraint techniques.

Prison officers who are working directly

with juveniles are required to take an
additional week's training course known
as the Juvenile Awareness Staff
Programme (JASP). It consists of the
following:
Child protection (1 day)
Understanding and working with
children and young people in custody (2
days)
Mental health awareness ( day)
Substance misuse ( day)
Vulnerability Assessment (1 day)
Training planning and resettlement (1
day)
Managing difficult behaviour ( day)
Safeguards ( day)

From September 2007 all new prison

officers had to take a National
Vocational Qualification (NVQ) in
custodial work during their first
year. The 8week initial training
course forms the first part [of the
NVQ Level 3].
It is supposed to provide the
underpinning knowledge and core
skills needed to complete the NVQ
and to work effectively with
prisoners

Is This Enough?

Numerous organisations and individuals

have argued that the training period
should also be much longer. According
to the Howard League for Penal Reform:
8 weeks is not enough time to acquire
the necessary skills and knowledge to
fulfil this hugely challenging and
complicated role."

Prison Reform Trust

Similarly, from the Director of the Prison
Reform Trust:
Prison staff in England and Wales, with
eight weeks' basic training, receive the
least training and development of all
public service workers, including other
justice colleagues. This compares
unfavourably with most western European
countries. France, for instance, offers six
months' introductory training, and Norway
two years' professional development, for
those choosing a career in the prison
service.

In what other profession would

eight weeks training, and
minimal supervision, be seen as
adequate to prepare and support
staff in a role that involves
caring for some of the most
vulnerable and troubled
members of our society.
She went on to say that:

We would not employ asocial worker

who does not have educational
qualifications and professional
training, it would be unthinkable, and
it should be unthinkable to have
aprison officer who does not have the
same training and qualifications as
anurse or social worker. Prison
officers require complex oral skills,
negotiating skills; aknowledge of
psychology, and a knowledge of
criminal justice

Professor Andrew Coyle, Kings

College, London,
describes the
initial training as "abysmal.
He said:
Giving them [prison officers]
eight weeks' training, sometimes
within a prison, not in a prison
college, and then sending them off
to a dispersal prison, or to a local
prison, or to a women's prison, or
to a young offenders' prison and
expecting them to know what to
do and how to do it is really quite
wrong

And from officers

themselves.

Its ridiculous. I worked in a

factory before, and eight weeks
later Im looking after murderers
and rapists, and people that want
to kill themselves.

The job keeps changing. They

want us to do more and more with
more and more prisoners. But the
basic training stays the same.

 Other

countries do things
rather differently..

Norway: The Department

for Basic Training

Each prison officer undertakes a

two year training programme. To
qualify for the staff academy,
applicants must have the entrance
qualifications for higher education.

The first year comprises 4 weeks at

the college, followed by practical
work with close supervision and
guidance for 42 weeks, with two
study days weekly.

 In

the second year there are 44

weeks of academic work
followed by 6 weeks working as
a prison officer. To qualify, the
trainee must pass a series of
exams, and satisfactorily
complete each placement and
project work.

Officers must undertake a

further week of training
after three years in post, or
on promotion or change of
responsibility. Most prisons
also organize local training.
This level of commitment to
training prison officers
reflects the level of
responsibility officers have
for the well-being of
prisoners.

Correctional Service of Norway

Staff Academy - KRUS - is a part
of the Service for the Care and
Confinement of Offenders in
Norway which also consists of
the Prison Service, the Probation
Service and the Prison and
Probation Department IT-Service.

Here is the structure of the training

provided to prison officers in
Norway..

Theme Criminal Case Proceedings and related law

1
subjects
Theme
Ethics and professionalism in prison work
2
Theme
Practial prison work and safety
3
Theme
Criminology and criminal politics
4
Theme
Therapy work in institutions
5
Theme
The role of the Prison Officer
6

1st Year

Pre-course
4 weeks at The
Prison Officer
College

Practical work
with close
supervision and
guidance
experience of 42
weeks. Two study
days weekly

Exam theme 1

2nd Year

Theoretical
studies 44 weeks

Works as prison
officers 6 weeks

Exam theme 2, 3,
4, 5, 6.
Project work

3rd year
and
beyond

Working in the
prison

1 further week of
training after
three years in
post, or on
promotion or
change of
responsibility.

Professionalising Prison
officers

Prison officers recognise an increasing need

for them to properly trained, because their
role is increasingly complex. They have to be
protectors, enforcers, carers and educators.

Because they have to try to educate (and

hence rehabilitate) prisoners, requires staff
support and training (i.e. they need to be
educated themselves!)

Training New Recruits there are significant

international discrepancies in terms of
length of training and content. (8 weeks v
2years)

In my view there should be a

minimum set of criteria across EU
that training has to satisfy
But we have to decide, first, what
those criteria should be and why
What do we want from our officers?
What we want from them
determines the training period and
content we provide
How can we achieve what we want?

An old saying comes to

mind:
'If you think training is
expensive, try costing
ignorance.'

Thank you for your kind

attention
I will be happy to answer
any questions or
comments