Charity Calls Prison Officers Registration System to Mirror Nurses’ Standards

A prison guard walks past HMP Wandsworth prison in London on July 12, 2024. Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

Operators of British prisons should implement a mandatory registration system for prison officers, similar to the requirement for nurses, as part of essential reforms to prison management, a charity has proposed.

A report by the Prison Reform Trust (PRT), published on Monday, said the new registration system will create a more professional and effective prison officer workforce for the future.

It called for a registration system for prison officers that would mimic the UK Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) register. The NMC is an official database, which ensures that only qualified and competent individuals can work as nurses, midwives, and nursing associates.

The PRT said that the prison officer role, unlike that of a nurse, “carries life and death importance” and requires regular skills training.

Currently, no formal qualifications are required to become a prison officer. Applicants must pass a series of tests and then undergo a 12-week training programme, which covers law, security protocols and first aid.

The proposed new register would include an independent body to set and update professional standards. Officers would need a certificate to practice, renewed every three years, by showing evidence of good practice and learning.

There would also be an independent process to review and appeal decisions if registration is removed due to serious misconduct.

This is part of a wider set of reforms, the charity said is necessary to resolve the crisis within prisons.

Recommendations

In November, the HM Prisons and Probation Service reported that prison staff had decreased by 25.6 percent, compared to the year ending Sep. 30, 2023. Over the same period, there were 8,221 leavers, an increase of 6.3 percent.

The PRT report pointed out “unprecedented challenges” caused by staffing cuts since 2012, followed by the rapid hiring of new staff to fill the gaps.

“The prison service is at a critical point,” the report said, noting that only a small number of current staff have experience with the traditional relationship-based approach that has long defined prisons in England and Wales.

Due to high staff turnover, prison management, based on face-to-face relationships between officers and prisoners, is at risk of being lost, the report said.

It added that technology could potentially reduce some burdens on officers, allowing more time for relationship-building with prisoners.

Authors of the report said there should be a maximum ratio of one manager to ten officers, with regular face-to-face observation of officer-prisoner interactions. It also said that prisoners should be more involved in both the design and delivery of officer training and development programs

HR professionals should be appointed at board-level to implement these reforms, the report recommended.

Author of the study, PRT’s former director and former prison governor Peter Dawson said: “The prison service must decide what its operating model for the future is to be, properly examining the nature of the population for which it will be caring.

“The foundation for the great majority of a way of life in prison should be the joint creation of safe, respectful and purposeful communities.”

Prison Crisis

UK prisons face an overcrowding crisis, which will see the prison population exceed 100,000 by 2029, according to the Ministry of Justice (MoJ). This is while the operational capacity for jails is 88,852. Other issues includes lack of funding, ageing infrastructure, shortage of staff and rising levels of violence, abuse and self-harm among prisoners.

Last year, a Justice Committee survey revealed that over 80 percent of prison officers felt that staff morale was poor, and a significant majority believed their salaries did not reflect their job responsibilities.

The Prison Officers’ Association national Chair Mark Fairhurst described these findings as a “damning indictment” of the conditions prison staff endure.

The PRT chief executive Pia Sinha said that any attempts to resolve the crisis within prisons depend on the measures to reform the workforce.

“Without an engaged, trained and supported workforce, the government will struggle to enact any measures to bring about ordered, safe and purposeful prisons,” she said.

The UK government has recently announced several initiatives aimed at reforming the prison system to address issues such as overcrowding, rehabilitation, and public safety.

Ministers have committed to creating 14,000 additional prison places and plans to outline a 10-year capacity strategy later this year. Government sentencing reforms include reduction of the proportion of sentences served in custody and extension of early release schemes.