Why I Want To Be A Prison Officer

I would most certainly like to work within the Criminal Justice system upon the completion of my degree. Although at this moment I am not set on a specific career I do have a major interest in working within the prison system, particularly as a prison officer.

Prisons are responsible for keeping those who are sentenced to prison in custody, public prisons are ran by the HM Prison Service which is an executive agency that is sponsored by the Ministry of Justice and to date they run 109 out of the 123 prisons in England and Wales (Gov, n.d) they are also responsible for the employment of prison officers. There is a number of prisons that are operated privately, who are responsible for their own recruitment.

As a Prison Officer I would like to work in a public female prison. There are 12 women prisons in the UK and although they operate under the same policies and rules of male prisons, they do have to comply with gender specific standards, which are set out in the Prison Service order 4800, this means that staff are aware that women have specific gender issues and they respond appropriately to provide the best care for women who are incarcerated ( Gov,n,d). Within

This could intentionally have an impact on those who have a career as a prison officer as there are many factors that differ from working in a public prison. According to findings from the Trade Union Congress, (2015) those working in a private sector are more likely to be, paid less, work much longer hours and are left on temporary contracts. The average wage for a public prison officer is £14.18, however, private officers are paid £9.98, while have to work longer hours and dealing with poor conditions of