15th April 2017
If you could pick a first job for someone leaving university this summer, “prison officer” would probably rank as one of the most challenging.
Inspectors’ reports have repeatedly said that officers in some prisons had all but lost control and that in some it’s easier for prisoners to get drugs than clean clothes. Officers have described the lawlessness and violence of prison life, caused in no small part by overcrowding and a surge in the use of synthetic drugs.
Prisoners themselves have told of the loneliness, boredom, and frustration of their time inside. Officers only regained control of a privately run jail in December after 12 hours of rioting.
But for a group of hopeful young university graduates, this is a sector they think they can change for the better: Up to 60 recent graduates are expected to enrol in a new scheme to become prison officers.
- Source: Buzzfeed
- Publication date: April 15, 2017
- Read the original article