Prison staff work in highly complex settings, and with society’s most vulnerable and injured people. Unfortunately – and despite their central role in day-to-day prison life - prison officers are an occupational group whose skills and commitment have so often been underrated and unnoticed. In various ways, prison officers’ contribution to making ex-prisoners less likely to commit crimes is constantly undermined. This is a sad state of affairs, since the uniformed prison officer is often the only positive role-model a prisoner sees. Professionalization is directly related to the quality of staff morale, recruitment and retention of the ‘right’ staff.
