Health & Safety Considerations in Working with Offenders Dr. Craig Jackson

1. Health & Safety Considerations in Working with Offenders Dr. Craig Jackson Prof. Occupational Health Psychology Head of Psychology Birmingham City University School of Social Sciences Faculty of Education, Law & Social Sciences

2. Prisons within HM Prison Service are one of the most unique environments in existence Prisons are unlike any other legislated workplace Primary aim is to protect the public and keep prisoners in a secure, decent and humane environment Contradiction of locked doors

3. Complexities of Prison H&S Offenders & those working with them Hard to preserve H&S perfectly Many types of offender Difficult Both secure and non-secure settings Many types of sentence Offender work: physical & psychological effects

4. Prisons Act (1865)

5. Hard bed, board and labour

6. Pointless labour as punishment

7. Prisoners should leave as better people Punitive labour replaced with learning a trade Prisoners allowed to earn a wage "Own clothes" & haircuts allowed Shaved heads phased out Better visiting facilities Education and libraries in all prisons Incentives and earned privilege schemes Gladstone Committee 1895

8. Contribute to safe & secure custody Prepare reports in a timely manner Comply with audit requirements Follow procedures for prisoner applications Apply authorised control and restraint Encourage prisoners in offending behaviour treatment progs Uphold respect for prisoners' rights, dignity and property Act as personal office for groups of prisoners Care vs. Custody

9. Modern Prison Officers Prison Lawyer Communicator Counsellor (various) Teacher Manager Security expert Historian Health and Safety Advisor

10. Psychosocial Environment Emotional demands Low supervisory support Role conflict High "client" contact Exposure to violence & threats Unpleasant work Overcrowding (61%) Restructuring (2010) Mediating factors for high sickness absence

11. Prisons and YOIs • 160 in England and Wales • 11"private prisons" • Maximum security • Training establishments • Satellite camps • 86,000 prisoners • Offenders wishing to commit violence to others and officers make total prevention impossible • Thankless task with little acknowledgement

12. Variety of Sentencing Many workers will have contact with offenders A. Custodial services B. Offender management or rehab C. Workplace experience

13. "Community" Sentencing Attend School Community payback (40-300 hrs) Completion of job training Complete a treatment programme (anger, drugs) Avoid activities (pubs, football) Curfew (electronic tag) Residence sentence (specified, approved premises) Receive mental health treatment Supervision sentence Attendance training (18-24 yrs) Jackson 2011

14. "It is important that the prisoner is correctly assessed and passed fit only for work which is within his mental and physical capacity. We have to . . . ensure that no prisoner suffers injury through being ordered to do unsuitable work." HK Snell 1953 Working Prisons are not new

15. Work Work in prison is part of rehabilitation, not the punishment Suitability for work assessed upon reception Workshops & activity units

16. Working Textiles Printing Engineering Data entry Woodwork Assembly Desktop publishing CAD Catering Cleaning Building

17. West Mids Probation Service Two Wood Workshops HSE Improvement notices in 2002 & 2003 1) Lack of COSHH assessment for wood dust 2) Use of Workplace Equipment Regs (1998) Notices complied with Improvements made

18. Social Undesirability Bias Society willing to accept unsatisfactory level of H&S for offenders Work is NOT the punishment Work-related illness is NOT the punishment Post English Riots vengefulness

19. Health & Safety Concerns: NPS 2001; 20,000 staff; 42 area boards Few Health & Safety risk assessments of work Only ad hoc inspections Health & Safety training minimal Few areas with trained / competent staff or FAs Few Health & Safety committees No H&S guidance for supervision of offenders HSE Home Office case study 2005

20. Stress in HMP "London" • N 1038 HMP staff London region • Managers, Officer grades, Admin • Domains of HSE Mgt Stds linked to Wellbeing (OR) • Demands (3.2) • Control (3.3) • Support (manager (3.5) then peer (3.7) • Relationships (3.7) • Role (4.2) • Change (3.0) Bevan et al 2010

21. Stress in HMP "London" Bevan et al 2010

22. Personality Disorders 1% of gen. pop. have PD 50% - 75% prisoners have PD diagnosis Current concern for public services Vicarious Trauma in some therapists & officers

23. Personality Disorder Concerns Medium Secure unit for offenders Staff concerns from... "Desire for more meaningful contact" "Contradictory attitude to openness" "Feeling physically safe / emotionally vulnerable" "Ambivalence to structure and control" "Emphasis on staff relationships" Kurtz & Turner 2007

24. Vicarious Trauma • Working with sex offenders • Intrusive thoughts • Avoidance behaviours • Hyper-vigilance • Highest levels reported in secure settings • Not related to treatment type, caseload, or previous trauma Moulden & Firestone 2007

25. Vicarious Trauma

26. Proactive "Talking Therapies" Health effects of high profile murder investigations Soham murders: SIO Chris Stevenson James Bulger murder: SIO Albert Kirkby Ipswich ripper murders: SIO Roy Lambert Cromwell Street murders: SIO John Bennett • Team of 47 detectives • Proactive "Stress Counselling” • Some accepted – others did not • Upon retirement . . .

27. Severe Fatigue NOT Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Inability to function physically & mentally 3% prevalence across working population "Burnout" - severe fatigue response to chronic stress • Occurs more in psychologically "vulnerable" staff . . • . . . . . Working in conditions they find stressful.

28. Unusual Tribunal Cases

29. Tail-Wagg-Dog Atmosphere

30. Fire starting Revenge Unintentional Delusion Erotic pleasure Pyromania-fetish Institutionalised Crime concealment Excitement Attention-seeking Mental disorder Political Terrorism Self-immolation Attempted suicide Financial Vandalism Lewis & Yarnell 1951; Incardi 1970; Prins 1985; Rix 1994

31. Fire

32. Fire 11 deaths from cell fires in the 1980s 3 deaths in 1990s 5 deaths in 2000s

33. Violence 121% increase in assaults on female prison officers since 2000 From 232 assaults to 513 58% increase in attacks on male officers From 1,767 in 2000 to 2,804 in 2006

34. Violence

35. Suicide 24 prisoner deaths in the prison estate of England & Wales in January 2012 Most natural causes 11 of these were suicidal deaths Many more attempted it but were not successful

36. Suicide-Prevention is ineffective Suicide-prevention training for prison officers "Arming" officers with cutting tools at all times Fostering an attitude of duty of care in the officers Prisons are suicidogenic environments Isolation, stress, & bleakness create a suicide-space Prisoners listeners of limited value Samaritans phones in HMP Woodhill broken

37. Relates to both PERSONALITY and ENVIRONMENT "Realistic" Doer "Investigative" Thinker "Artistic” Creator "Conventional" Organiser RIASEC Model "Social" Helper "Enterprising" Persuader Holland 1997

38. "Realistics" Practical individuals Conformist Ordered Prefer objects and tools Not keen on concepts or abstracts Heuristics-driven Mechanic, Labourer, Driver

39. things ideas data people Holland 1997 Relates to both PERSONALITY and ENVIRONMENT "Realistic" Doer "Investigative" Thinker "Artistic” Creator "Conventional" Organiser RIASEC Model "Social" Helper "Enterprising" Persuader Prediger's dimensions

40. Summary Prisons have gone through many dramatic shifts, and will continue to do so Prison officers subjected to usual job stressors, AND unique issues caused by the nature of work Health and well being adversely affected by the work and change Psychosocial thinking & mapping for future officers in selection and training