6.1.4 The Unique Potential Of Prison Staff

This Sub-Chapter explores the potential of prison officers in effecting change in this work, also mentioned in an earlier Chapter when I referred to cultural matching. And once again I remind you that what I am writing here is based on my observations, not on my direct experience.

Perhaps you might also say that this is a bit local to a city with a prison and it may not apply, for example, to a small town that is remote from same. Also, children are affected far more by influences in their families and communities than they are by prison, which they may visit for a short time – typically half an hour or an hour – once a week, fortnight, or month. This is evident from many reports. If interested I invite you to look up this research, Voices of Families Affected by Imprisonment, and read Chapter Three.

However, despite all that, the potential that prison officers have to help families in distress is so noteworthy that I feel a need to mention it!

Furthermore, as stated in the early part of the website, imprisonment is a common experience among the Focus Group – indeed prison may be the one and only Government type agency with which they have a long term close relationship.

And, there are many people in small towns and rural areas affected by imprisonment, and who regularly visit prisons who may be even more isolated than those in large cities.

Generally speaking, (and in my experience) staff in many agencies whose stated purpose is child protection have a long road to travel before they will be able to protect children affected by imprisonment, growing up in families displaying the characteristics that I described elsewhere.

Prison officers may be a bit farther down the road!

One of the reasons for this is that when Dad goes to prison he is almost always largely invisible to social workers and family support agencies.  But he is with prison officers every day – perhaps for years. A kind word from an officer can ease the pain of Dad and indirectly benefit his partner/spouse and children.

Then there are the cultural differences.

Statutory child protection agencies in general are very removed culturally from the problem that they are trying to solve.  And I cannot bring to mind too many genuine efforts being made in the past, or being made now, to really bridge that cultural gap.

With some notable exceptions (i.e the open-to-sharing-power practitioners that I mention here and there throughout the website) I have no evidence that the statutory sector as a whole displays a willingness to learn from the voluntary/community sector and families themselves.

Individual practitioners will – but certainly, in my experience, the formally educated system is generally closed to two-way knowledge flow.

In the next post I will expand on the potential for prison officers to take on roles which are far different to the stereotype that was prevalent in the media in the past but, thankfully, is now changing!

I repeat here what I said in the Chapter on Cultural Matching. That is, the closer people who work within the Pillars are to a problem the more willing they are to appreciate (and therefore believe) that more creative methods of working are needed to solve the problem.

Prison officers’ potential arises from the fact that they are one of the few statutory (Government-run) professionals that actually journey with (sometimes very distressed) people who are in their care, and their families.

The following points about prison staff are worthy of note [1]:

1. They live with people who have suffered trauma, who have serious addiction problems and who display the characteristics of the Focus Group for long periods of time.

2. They get to know families due to arranging visits, phone calls, occasions etc.  Thus they may learn what is going on in families, who is trustworthy, who is not, even who is in danger, who is safe, who is wise, who has leadership potential etc.

3. Not only do they deal with trauma directly, (unlike many other professionals in education, health and justice) they also deal with the aftermath – sometimes for a long time.

4. They develop skills in managing anger, anxiety, fear, etc. in others, and negotiating with people who can be very unreasonable.  (Sometimes these skills might be looked down on by outsider professionals who know nothing of the realities of prison life).

5. They have a vested interest in keeping people in custody emotionally well in themselves.

In short – they have a relationship (the thing that has potential for most change) with the prison community and their families, and (most importantly as we mentioned above) they are culturally familiar with their situation.

Finally, I have come across many prison officers who wish to be more involved in care than custody as such.

And their wish can, with some creativity and innovative practice within the prison system, be fulfilled. In fact, it is already happening.

While it is probably not that common to view imprisonment as an opportunity for growth and development, the Chapter on Cultural Matching (linked above – and in particular this post) argues that it can be just that.

[1]. I’d recommend, for further reading, the thesis by Gov. Richie Roche which I referenced already.