Guards? We're just good friends, say prisoners

SPARE A thought for the poor, misunderstood prison officers. It just isn't true they are a bunch of unfeeling tough guys and even harder women. New research shows they are as nice a bunch of people as you are likely to come across.

Alison Liebling, senior research associate at the Cambridge Institute of Criminology, asked prisoners what they though of their guards and found they had a massive 95 per cent approval rating.

So why do the guards have such a poor image?

Last week 25 officers from Wormwood Scrubs in west London were charged with assault; and then there is Bad Girls, the ITV drama series acclaimed by reviewers for its "realistic" portrayal of brutal, sex-mad officers. The gritty storylines, which centre on the fictitious HMP Larkhall, have infuriated a profession already reeling from the Wormwood Scrubs saga.

Some staff roles in the series are sympathetic, but other characters are less so. They include a butch female officer, an officious senior colleague and a manipulative male officer who demands sexual favours from inmates.

Mark Healy, national chairman of the Prison Officers' Association, which represents 30,000 staff, said: "Morale is poor, generally. The last three or four days have been particularly bad for the service." The 25 officers from Wormwood Scrubs are to be charged with assault-related offences following an investigation into claims of mistreatment at the former flagship jail, which could face closure or privatisation.

"The majority of prison officers are caring and kind," said Mr Healy. "If they weren't then most of our prisons would be burnt to the ground, because prisons work only with the co-operation of the prisoners.

"I get frustrated because I regard us as the forgotten public service. People think once somebody who has terrorised a community is locked up it's the end of the story; but it is the beginning of the story for my members."

Dr Liebling, who did her research at Whitemoor prison in Cambridgeshire, said there was a serious image problem. "It is perfectly true prison officers are stereotyped because in a way they are the embodiment of punishment," she said.

"Prison officers, especially in segregation units, which are the prison punishment blocks, need tremendous support and their good work has to be acknowledged."

Dr Liebling's research revealed that prisoners considered only 5 per cent of officers made life difficult for them.

She said the overwhelming majority of prison officers worked hard to maintain cordial relations with inmates, despite challenging working conditions. Michael Park, publicist for Bad Girls, stood by the integrity of the series. "All incidents are based in reality," he said. "I don't think we have created a negative prison staff at all - it's a cross-section of all the people who work in prisons.

"We have just seen 25 officers accused of mistreatment, so it's folly to portray them all as goody two-shoes."

Despite the bad publicity, the number of recruits has risen in the past two years. Home Office figures show that since June 1997, 1,404 male and 918 female recruits have become prison officers, which a spokeswoman said was up on previous years. As of 31 May this year there were 24,858 prison officers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.