prison work

[windycity8]

have you ever worked inside a prison in whatever capacity? if so, what was your experience of it?

[sara3]

my friend works in the education dept in a prison and she (mostly) loves it, but has had witnessed a few "incidents".

[windycity8]

i have seen a job teaching a prison, thats why i asked. im all for helping out others and would love to improve someone else's life so that they can move on without prejudice. just wondered if it was a very threatening environment. i assume too you are told not to wear provocative clothing nor anything like scarves or belts or am i just going too far in my head with this one?

[sara3]

you're quite right, there are expectations of how you dress, what you're allowed to bring in (very little!) and how you behave. you have to follow the rules every time or risk getting caught out, no exceptions. you have to report everything that raises suspicions, so may be unpopular. education is a "privilege" and the prisoners get paid (very little!) to attend. if they mis-behave, they're out.

mostly, they're glad to get out of their cells (now called rooms) so will behave.

[boxtops]

Windy there will be quite a lot of conditions of employment in the prison service, not just watching what you wear, there's a great deal more to it and lots of training involved to accustom you to the environment. I work in the NHS and from time to time we meet with the prison nursing service, it sounds very interesting but very different to similar roles "on the outside".