2

Pookie

This has been going on for years, and now the time has come to take a stand.
The states would be quite happy to see many long serving prison Officers resigning as it would cut the wage bill for the prison, but would cost many thousands more to recruit and train ( in England ) new officers on lower wages but with no experience, and in a prison enviroment that is a recipe for disaster, new Officers must have experienced Officers to turn to in times of confrontation, unrest and mass disobedience, otherwise they ( new Officers ) will suffer extreme stress and leave the service and cost the states more money, let alone the turmoil and stress to the Officer and his/her family.
Many good Officers have been and gone in Guernsey’s prison service, costing hundreds of thousands in money, but much more in personal and family stress to those involved, these are hard working honest people who have tried to do their best for the prison service and have been dumped on by the bean counters in offices in custard castle who have no grasp on reality in this world, safe as they are in their unsackable jobs and answerable to no-one. the perfect job, wish my partner had one.
People in Guernsey have no idea what goes on in Guernsey prison, i dont even think that the politicians who run the home department really know, they are fed censored info by the governor grades who have targets to reach, and they are not very likely to report that they are not reaching those targets are they? human nature , i suppose?
There is a saying that goes something like, penny wise and pound foolish, that sums up the states for me, Guernsey prison is crumbling around us,l but no one gives a damn, least of all the polititions, the prison has always been at the bottom of the civil service food chain, to embarassing to talk about, if we ( the states ) keep quite about it, no one will know.
Every one needs a fireman, a Policeman, a medic, they help us, Prison Officer? darker side of life, don’t talk about this stuff, better left unsaid, dirty linnen, no political gain from this, if i don’t talk about it, it will go away, change the subject, anything but face the situation, POLITICAL COWARDICE.
Geoff Mahy, no comment, he does not know what time of the day it is, he would not know his way round the prison if he was given a Perry’s guide for the place, Francis Quinn., reckons everything is rosy, work a week with my partner mr Quinn, see if you are so cocky after a prisoner has been in your face all day, telling you what he is going to do to you, your wife, your child, your family.
Guernsey is a small place, you can’t get away from them, ex prisoners are in your pub, your takeaway, your cliff walk, your restaraunt, your cinema, your shop, your garage, they can make your life hell, you can’t get away from them and if you try, as my partner does, to instill dicipline into them, you become a target for them on the out, when they are released from prison.
My partners job as a prison Officer is to try and rehabilitate offenders and get them to lead a honest and usefull life and be an asset to society, and not a drain on public resources and a waste of valuable oxygen, he cannot do that without the help and support of of the Govenor grades and his political masters.
I know that politicians read this forum, please can someone in authority try and sort this out, the prison is in meltdown, have the B*lls to find out the truth if you dare, i wont hold my breath.:-(
I would love to give you my real name, but my partner would suffer and my family would suffer, but that doesn’t matter does it? don’t rock the boat, keep quite and it will go away, mum’s the word.

Sad Pokkie:-(

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4

Hello

Paul – if it is indeed true that staff amuse themselves by playing mind games with inmates then it is a recipe for disaster.

If staff find the job mundane and unbearable then they and their managers need to sort themselves out or get out.

Pookie’s partner should be supported to do his/her job properly for that is what a prison officer is paid to do and I would hope they would all want to do a good job because if done properly it’s quite a rewarding job to do. I know this from experience though sadly from the wrong side of the door.

However, prison is a closed world and usually far from the mind of the public beyond the passing thought that they hope it’s really horrible. They probably care little beyond this.

There are few votes to be had so whether the politicians pay any attention is also debatable. It’s a shame because it’s a little prison and if well resourced and run it could really play a part in improving the quality of life of so many people in Guernsey.

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6

Concerned

I am a prison officer and have seen the morale of officers destroyed over the last 18 months through bullying, suspensions, constructive dismissals and changes to routine that haven’t been thought out. The management have lied to staff and have had hidden agendas, they will suspend staff for minor indiscretions yet get away with unquestionable bullying themselves. If your face doesn’t fit you become a target. The HR department and States members who they report to are fully aware of what is going on in the prison from officers who have left and had exit interviews and the high levels of sickness amongst staff. Also, let’s face it, Guernsey is a small island and people talk but everything is being swept under the carpet because it would interfere with management’s agenda to drive through their changes. A major change that is being imposed on staff is 11-12 hour shifts, these working patterns may be successful in the UK where travel is an issue but it is unnecessary over here. When are we supposed to see our families or have any quality of life to enjoy other day to day activities? How is this a balance of the work and home life that they go on about? How can management expect to get the best out of their staff when they have to do 3 or 4 of these long shifts in a row?
The group of officers I feel sorry for is the Principle Officers, this is no longer a position in the UK and they are now being phased out over here. However, they aren’t being afforded the same rights as their counterparts in the UK who are given the options of being downgraded to a Senior Officer but remaining on the same pay scale or to go on extensive training to become a Manager. However the senior management have decided to get rid of Principle Officers altogether by constructive dismissal. After extensive years of loyal, unblemished service and proving their worth as good managers they have been set unrealistic tasks and impossible targets to reach within unachievable deadlines. They have been set up to fail and placed on poor performance monitoring with a view to being downgraded to officer level or dismissed. This has now created a fear factor where everyone is too afraid to make a decision or speak up for fear of reprisals. After all we all have mortgages or rent to pay and families to support.
Before Christmas last year a ‘change team’ was put together and it was sold to the staff that this would be a team to help us shape the future of the prison. Staff were asked to put forward their ideas for rosters, working conditions and opinions regarding proposed changes to prison routines. It turns out that the management were just paying lip service to our ideas because at the end of it all there was no compromise and management are enforcing their own agenda anyway. They are expecting staff to sign up to open ended changes that they won’t specify despite being repeatedly asked. We want to know exactly what changes are going to happen because without it being set out in writing we would be signing a ‘blank cheque’.
Meanwhile the management are regularly changing routines and procedures which both staff and prisoners struggle to keep up with. This is a recipe for disaster. As I look around me I see less experienced staff on the landings because the management are driving out their experienced workforce. The longer serving members of staff know what is lawful and part of our working conditions and it is these essential staff that are being witch hunted because they will speak out.
Of all the places I’ve worked in I’ve never come across anywhere with such poor management and disregard for staff. The driving force behind this has zero empathy for anyone and is totally unsuitable for the job, they need to be a people person, not just an accountant. Someone in the States is accountable and I would like to know when they are going to do something about all this?

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8

Paul

pookie
Get your head down n do your bird!

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10

Twister

To all you prison officers (not the ones in the ivory tower)
You will not win, this has been going on for along time, I joined the service about twelve years ago and from day one it was clear if you did not have a brown nose you would not get far in the service. As for bullying well and abuse it has been going on for years. this is the only way that some two pips and one pips get their rocks off. Place them on a landing full of Inmates they would soil their underwear.This i have witnessed.. The only way you can survive is to let the brown stuff flow over your head or has i did after nine years walk away there is a live out side and the grass is greener…. Twister

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12

fred

dear all,i was a prison officer until recently and throughly enjoyed the first two years of training and working in guernsey prison,then changes were made and people brought in and my word did attitudes change and senior staff adopted the old look after number one no matter what the cost,everyone fell sick overnight and nobody seemed to care,i left the job and certainly have no regrets,but nobody really wanted to go out of their way to find out what the problem was or persuade me to stay,i believe 12 to 15 grand is the cost to train me for that job, money well spent if you stay in the job long term,but you feel very alone at times,dealing with people who clearly dont want to be rehabilitated and find the excellent food a lot better than whats outside the gates at home.the majority of officers are excellent and do a great job against all the odds but how long will that last.good luck to the guys on the landings,and i watch with baited breath.

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14

Realist

Ray, the Home Department know exactly what is going on, they have all the exit interviews from staff that have left, they have been told in person by many staff members and there have been numerous reports sent to them. They are, as many other states department do “stick their head in the sand” hoping it will go away! All they can see is saving money but haven’t taken into account how many staff they need to replace and the cost of training them

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16

screwed

Of course Mahy knows what is going on.He needs to rein his dogs in and take control of his department.The problem is there are too many over-paid civil servants.These people,who are unelected by the way seem to think they have all the power and know what is best for us.Mahy is being fed half truths, lies and who knows what else by these clowns. These people are not in charge of this Island.The so called democratically elected of this Island are meant to be in power. Mahy take charge.You were voted in by the public,I know it is hard to believe that you got into power so start acting like a politician.In 2012 all of you are going up for re-election.I’ll see you at the hustings and many a question will be asked.You will found to be failing and you you will be found to be wanting.How do think you will fare? By the way Iwasn’t convinced by your little speech at the meeting at the prison on 08/06/10. God help us.The death knoll is ringing for the Prison Service and for the Guernsey way of life.Never mind the Nazi occupation I find 65 years of English occupation far more sinister.

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18

concerned

Is’nt it against the law to bully employes?
An officer of the prison would need to be fairly hard skined to do the job that they do dealing with some of the inmates that we have in are so called perfect island so how is it that they can come home in tears with what they have to put up with from the management?
Do I know what I’am talking about? yes I do my partner works there!

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