Just in case you weren’t sure: prison officers are not allowed to have sex with inmates. Given the recent footage that has been circulating on social media, allegedly of a female officer at HMP Wandsworth, you could be forgiven for wondering. Coupled with the fact that the prisoner who was apparently filming the clip was doing so on a smartphone, while appearing to smoke, it would be fair to ask what, if anything, is actually banned in prison.
The officer in question has been arrested and charged with misconduct in public office. It’s important to say at this stage that she has not been convicted or yet stood trial. But the video nonetheless may reveal something deeply worrying about the state of our prisons in England.
There was a time, not so long ago, when the alleged actions of that prison officer would have been almost impossible. Certainly, when I joined the service in 2012, as a 22-year-old prison officer at a high-security men’s jail, that kind of thing was unheard of. Having sex with a prisoner? In a cell? During the association period? I don’t think it could have happened. A very basic part of what prison staff colloquially term “jailcraft” is knowing the whereabouts of your fellow officers at all times. Prisons are even designed this way: long, straight corridors to guarantee a clear line of sight. Then, it would have been inconceivable to me that the other officers at HMP Wandsworth could have had no idea where their colleague was for that length of time because prisons can be dangerous places.
But that was then. Now I am just as horrified as anyone else at what has been alleged, but not really surprised. Because this is what happens when you cut staff to the extent that Conservative governments have. You can’t have a clear line of sight to the officer you’re working alongside if that officer doesn’t exist.
The Ministry of Justice has launched a significant recruitment drive to attract people to the service. But the newly recruited staff often don’t have the benefit of learning from experienced officers with years or even decades in the job, as I did. This means they won’t know the difference between a cell door that a prisoner has pulled shut on his way out of the cell, and one that’s being held shut from the inside because the occupants haven’t come out – a clear indicator that something is happening inside that shouldn’t be. And they wouldn’t know to question why two prisoners might be choosing to remain in their cell during their association period – the one hour a day that prisoners have to, quite literally, associate, take a shower, go to the yard, make a phone call. For many prisoners around the country, this is the one hour a day they get to leave their cell. So choosing to stay inside it should arouse immediate suspicion.
Although I am horrified at the allegations, I’m a little cynical too. Should the officer in question go to prison if she is guilty? I don’t really see the point. If there is one thing the video shows us, it’s that prison doesn’t work. Whether you believe prisons should be places of punishment or rehabilitation, it doesn’t really matter, because we’re failing on both counts. Maybe a custodial sentence – if she is found guilty – would act as a deterrent to corrupt officers, but I doubt it.
There is much that a smartphone video can’t capture. Cuts to staffing, funding, resources and infrastructure have created the conditions in which corruption can flourish. Last year, a German court even refused to extradite a man to a UK prison because of concerns over conditions.
There have been 11 justice secretaries in the 14 years since the Conservatives came to power. There have been terrible policy decisions, like privatising probation, later reversed; the unlawful ban on sending prisoners books; the languishing of people on IPP sentences – all on top of austerity. Which leads me to my final point: if our own lawmakers don’t take the prison system particularly seriously, is it any surprise that some inmates and officers don’t either? The Conservative response to fixing these problems has been at best half-hearted, at worst dangerous. And as the video at HMP Wandsworth may reveal, if you cut everything and do nothing, then you allow for anything to happen.
Alex South is a former prison officer and the author of the memoir Behind These Doors
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