Now Ye're Talking - to a Prison Officer

Omackeral

hawkwind23 wrote: »

What size are the cells?
How many in each?
Do prisoners prefer a single cell or to share?

Are you allowed to spend time alone with a prisoner? for example go into his cell to check on him etc?
What happens when a prisoner is sick? Is there a sick wing?

Cells are 8 foot wide and 12 foot long as far as I know. Single cells are far more desirable because you have time to chill out and be alone with your true self rather than the pumped up gangster version of yourself that you portray in in general population (in some case IMO).

I've often spent a bit of time with a prisoner helping him to write a letter or that, a lot of them are semi literate or can't write at all. I'd do this in my office though rather than his cell. Office is a place of professionalism, cell is basically his bedroom.

We have medical staff on site. Nurse officers, medics and doctors. If needs be, an escort can be arranged to take a prisoner to hospital.

Junco Partner

What do the prisoners talk about amongst themselves; is it the usual watercooler conversation (sport, tv....) Or do the claustrophobic confines drive them to anything deeper (politics philosophy) ?

Who fares better the strong or the smart?

Who do inmates look up to more the smart or the strong?

Brown Bomber

I have two questions if it's okay?

1- Other than porridge, most prison guards in TV/Film seem to be either corrupt, vindictive, violent or cynical or some combination. Does this bother you at all?

2- I've seen some grim documentaries on male prison rape in US prisons, not sure how often it happens in Irish prisons. My two biggest fears in getting locked up would be getting raped and/or catching aids.

So my question is do the prison services provide condoms to inmates?

BrowmThomas

Fascinating read and fair play.
How do you switch off and forget about the day. Apologies if asked already.

Omackeral

Starokan wrote: »

I've often read about Mountjoy not having proper toilet facilities for inmates. Not asking are you working there but what would be your take on that.

If you think its archaic etc has there been any impetus amongst the officers unions to solve?

Thankfully, Mountjoy in 2014 is all single cells and all those cells have in cell sanitation. Scandalous that the multiman slop out cells existed in this century at all. If you treat people like animals, don't be shocked if they act like them. Urine and faecal matter was often used as a weapon against staff during these days.

yipeeeee

yipeeeee wrote: »

Do sexual assaults actually happen?

Was this answered?

Omackeral

yipeeeee wrote: »

Do sexual assaults actually happen?

I've never encountered any thankfully. If I did, I hope to God that the staff and other prisoners would be decent enough to treat the victim accordingly.

Whosthis

You've mentioned foreign national guards, are there many foreign national prisoners? Do they segregate themselves?

Whats the strangest request you've had from a prisoner?

Whats the strangest prisoner hobby/interest you've come across?

Omackeral

mikemac1 wrote: »

How do you address a prisoner?

Is it come with me 24601 or come with me prisoner Murphy? Maybe something else?

These are the questions I love. The simple ones that I'd often wonder but never get to ask. We call all prisoners by their first names. They call us either 'Officer' or 'Mr.Davis' or whatever your surname is. I would call my colleagues by their surname too so I would address him as Mr. Smyth. Female staff are generally called 'Miss' by prisoners or 'Ms. Davis'.

Great question.

Turtyturd

Do you deliberately leave prisoners standing in the rain when they come to sign on?

shruikan2553

What kind of ratio would there be between inmates who are there for violent and non violent crimes?

What tends to be a common reason to drive people to do something that ends with them in prison?

Omackeral

caldogs wrote: »

I've heard there was some industrial action in the prisons recently. what was that about and how did it impact your work ?

To cut a long story short, staff get 'grace periods' whereby they get ten mins in the morning to get changed into their uniforms and present themselves for parade. So instead of clocking in at 8:00am, they would be allowed to clock in up to 8:10am. Same after the shift, they werw given time for an after work shower as they've completed a 12 hour day and could clock that bit earlier. The powers that be went after these grace periods and staff were unhappy. It was a 'good will' type thing. Some staff would be in as early as 7:45 (giving a window of 35 minutes) and this helped get prisons get up and running earlier, unofficially. So with the good will under threat, staff decided to withdraw their own good will all show up at 7:59 and go nice and slowly through search areas etc. The jails were unlocking a good hour or two later than usual but no rules were being broken. It was basically a work to rule. Good will runs these places and the feeling was that it was petty given that it works both ways. The action has been averted for now and all is as it was.

Ok that wasn't so short!

Aaron2012mm

Are rats or snitches treated very bad inside

Omackeral

Questions from RainyDay

A related question to this - would a nice, middle-class, middle-aged bloke survive in prison? I often think that if something desperate ever happened and I ended up in prison, I wouldn't have a hope in hell of surviving. Do these peopel get victimised? How do some of the high-profile murderers get on (without naming names)?[/QUOTE]

A middle class gentleman would usually be deemed suitable for work detail in the laundry or kitchen area. It just works better that way, for everyone involved I think. They're treated as a novelty. A 45 year old banker from Blackrock among a load of 21 year old unemployed kids from Clondalkin is a funny one to witness, I must admit.


Murder isn't seen as anything worse than Robbery or Firearms. Informants or 'rats' and sex offenders are the lowest in the eyes of inmates and cant mix.

Omackeral

eviltwin wrote: »

Would you and prison staff in general be in favour of the death penalty ?

Myself? Not a hope. It's not who we are as a nation, despite what some crusaders on AH might think. Staff would probably disagree but I think it's tongue in cheek or an attempt to be a big lad. See if they'd be so up for it if they were the one doing the killing!

Omackeral

Orim wrote: »

Curious about this. Is this due to the prison you're in or do some offenders get seperate facilties or prison officers or whatever.

Sex offenders generally go to Arbour Hill Prison in Dublin. It's too risky having them in gen pop. Even other protection prisoners want to get at them. Many staff wouldn't be able to work with them either I suspect.

Aaron2012mm

Is there many on protection in the prison where you work and also do they come in contact at any time with the others in there. How many is on protection where you work. And how do they get on being locked up 23 hours a day

Frynge

If you happen upon a prisoner who has been violently assaulted as opposed to having to intervein in the assault would the prisoner just claim to have tripped or some other such such.

Luke92

How did you get your job? What was your background before the prison service?

Omackeral

Orim wrote: »

What's day to day work like? Watching cameras and patrolling? What's the most unusual thing you'd have to do?

Depends on your detail. An officer who is 'in charge' of a landing is basically responsible for all those in his area and is known as a Class Officer. He/She will have the most interaction with prisoners and will listen to requests he has such as enrolling in classes, issues with his cells infrastructure etc. Think of a nurse on a ward. You're people watching all the time. Their behaviour and body language is essential knowledge. Sometimes you get detail to bring a prisoner to a hospital appointment or a funeral, a different level of consciousness is needed here as you're outside the natural domain. An unusual one would be doing a repatriation i.e. bringing a prisoner to his homeland abroad to serve his sentence there. Road Trip!

Omackeral

irish_goat wrote: »

Do men work in the female prisons and vice-versa? If so is there much hassle from inmates towards staff of the opposite gender?

Another top question. Both genders work with both genders. Male staff can't search female inmates and vice versa. On the whole, I would say there's not much hassle. The ladies working in the men's part often have a calming influence in the male prisoners as the bravado can be dialled down. Most of them respect the female staff. There's been one or two cases of inappropriate comments but they're dealt with severely. Prisoners will also not be happy if a female officer is hurt by a fellow inmate.

Omackeral

Custardpi wrote: »

How much of a real impact do you think the opinion of prison officers (I assume you file prisoner behaviour reports etc) has on determining remission/early release or the lack of it? Would overcrowding issues generally outweigh any concerns? Have you seen many prisoners released early who you regarded as a serious threat to the public after spending time with them?

There's a new scheme called the Incentivised Regime where a prisoner is given perks based on his engagment with schools, workshops and programmes. It's up to the officers to decide how will he is getting on. All these reports are kept for reference and if you apply for early release, your file is brought up. If you have an exemplary record, you're more likely to be chosen ahead of a prisoner who hasn't made an effort. So yes, staff can definately have a say in his fortunes.

Omackeral

sporter1 wrote: »

Do you think sentences are too short?
What is the solution, build another prison to alieviate overcrowding ?

Sentences seem short because... and this may shock you... all prisoners automatically get 1/4 off their sentence the minute it's handed down. They can lose this time off, known as remission, if they mess up but fact is that it's given to them rather than them having to earn it. I think that's a good idea, having them earn it. Gives them incentive.

Omackeral

irish_goat wrote: »

Really enjoying this thread, another question, do you come across much prison homebrew?

Yep, especially coming up to Christmas. It's known locally as 'hooch' and it smells vile. They make it from fruit, yeast and heat from pipes in their cells to distil it. It's vile. Prisoners are put on disciplinary report for making, possessing or being under the influence of it. Did I mention it's nasty?

letsgetloud

Omackeral wrote:

Get this. Im in work. In a prison. Can't have my phone on me til break time.

I salute you good sir.

Omackeral

RoadhouseBlues wrote: »

If a new prisoner arrives and decides he cant cope with prison, and basically goes crazy, how do you calm him down or ensure he isn't a risk to himself or others?. Great thread by the way. Real interesting.

All commitalls are seen by a Doctor on arrival. If he's deemed to be a threat to himself, he'll be put on special observation in a padded room (yes, they exist). He will see a psychologist at earliest opportunity and action will be taken from there. Some places have units for prisoners like that with staff who are trained to deal with them. Some prisoners may be transferred to a Mental Hospital too.

feargale

Omackeral wrote: »

Get this. Im in work. In a prison. Can't have my phone on me til break time.

Why not?

Omackeral

Junco Partner wrote: »

What do the prisoners talk about amongst themselves; is it the usual watercooler conversation (sport, tv....) Or do the claustrophobic confines drive them to anything deeper (politics philosophy) ?

Who fares better the strong or the smart?

Who do inmates look up to more the smart or the strong?

Some prisoners talk absolute b*ollocks. Some staff do, too. Generally speak about the match last night, prison gossip, outside times they had which may include jobs they pulled off etc. A lot speak about their families and children and then loads speak about what their plan is for when they're released.

In the long term, the smart fare better. They can play the system and never get their hands dirty. If you're top dog for being strong, there's always gonna be someone bigger and badder eventually. Plus 4 on 1, it won't matter how tough you are!

The younger inmates look up to the big boys. The smart ones just laugh at it all.

endacl

feargale wrote: »

Why not?

Elmo's using it.

Omackeral

Brown Bomber wrote: »

I have two questions if it's okay?

1- Other than porridge, most prison guards in TV/Film seem to be either corrupt, vindictive, violent or cynical or some combination. Does this bother you at all?

2- I've seen some grim documentaries on male prison rape in US prisons, not sure how often it happens in Irish prisons. My two biggest fears in getting locked up would be getting raped and/or catching aids.

So my question is do the prison services provide condoms to inmates?

If they were to film ordinary officers doing ordinary everyday things, it would suck! Drama is created by tension. Having said that, the guards in The Green Mile were pretty ok. They're all fictional though, be silly to take offense.

I've never encountered prsion rape thankfully. Condoms aren't provided no but then again I've actually zero idea on what the IPS's stance is on consensual sex between two prisoners. Interesting....