Nim
Unlocked assessor, trainer and ex-prisoner
With Unlocked in mind, if the participant listens and considers my experiences, then it follows that the prisoners that they eventually work with may benefit.
I believe that the prison officer role is an immensely important role that hasn’t been recognised in the past as having the most impact on a prisoner, not just on the day to day lives of a prisoner and how they spend their time, but ultimately if they will re-offend. The Prison Officer role can transform and ultimately save lives, I speak from first-hand experience, where an officer intervened and affected my life in an extremely positive way. It’s great to see that Unlocked Graduates’ past cohorts, in their relative infancy are already making a difference, there are many success stories already and change is already evident.
I am playing a big part in training this new generation of amazing officers and training them in almost every aspect of the job. I am happy to talk about my experiences with anyone at Unlocked Graduates where I feel I am in a safe environment. I set up ‘Candid Chat Café’ which is a weekly evening ‘session’ where anyone wants to ask questions to me or others with lived experience they can come and do so and we answer in the frankest and most honest way we can.