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Men over 50 years of age are the fastest-growing population group in the prison system, leading to the prison service of England and Wales now becoming recognised as the largest provider of residential care for older men. Roughly one in five prisoners (18%) is over 50 years of age. This paper focuses on the impact on both staff and prisoners of developing an understanding of the needs and concerns of older prisoners during prison officer training. The authors approach the study of the older prison population from their respective disciplines—criminology and health. Both authors are aware of the necessity for custodial staff to be prepared and equipped to respond and manage a growing number of individuals who are vulnerable and appreciate the need for prison staff to be supported in this process, with an understanding of the complexities that come with housing large numbers of ageing men within a custodial setting. This article explores the provision of training for newly recruited prison officers and considers what good practice might look like.

Male rape literature is limited in the UK, with little public attention and limited research about prison officers’ perceptions. The aim of the current study was to explore the attitudes and perceptions of prison officers in England and Wales. Two groups of participants were recruited: Group 1 included 24 retired prison officers; group 2 included 17 participants from the general population. A mixed method design was used to gather quantitative and qualitative data. Findings showed that prison officers did not accept societal myths on male rape, although some had negative attitudes towards male rape occurring in prison. Participants from the general population displayed similar results, demonstrating how being a prison officer does not affect beliefs and attitudes of male rape any more than the public. Support strategies for prisoners would further reduce the stigma of raped prisoners.

\"Down-and-out ex-cop and not-quite-reformed addict Manny Rupert accepts an undercover job to find out if a California prison inmate is who he claims to be: Josef Mengele, aka the Angel of Death. Did the sadistic legend, whose Auschwitz crimes still horrify, fake his own death thirty years ago? Suddenly Manny finds himself in the middle of a conspiracy involving genocide, drugs, eugenics, human experiments, and America's secret history of collusion with the Nazis... all while careening from one extreme of apocalypse-adjacent reality to the other.\"--P. [4] of cover.

Purpose Negotiation is an established strategy used by the police and His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service to manage serious incidents. Whilst the literature acknowledges the role of the negotiator to be stressful, little is known about the experience of stress and the coping strategies used by negotiators when undertaking this role. This is particuarly true for negotiators who work in prisons. As such, the purpose of this study was to explore the experience of negotiators working in a prison setting. Design/methodology/approach The study adopted a qualitative methodology. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 prison officer negotiators based in public sector prisons in the North West of England. The data were analysed using thematic analysis. Findings Four overarching themes were identified relating to stressors; the experience of stress; use of coping strategies; and use of support. An underlying theme was identified relating to negotiating within the structure of a prison regime. Practical implications People involved in the management of serious incidents should be familiar with the negotiator role. Debriefing negotiators after a lone deployment and offering support to negotiators in the days following an incident is critical for staff well-being. Further, record keeping from the perspective of the negotiator should become formalised. Originality/value This paper contributes new insights into the management of serious incidents and the negotiator experience in prisons in England and Wales.

PurposeAvoidable voluntary turnover negatively impacts an organisation’s workforce and decreases its sustainability and productivity. His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service’s (HMPPS) leaving rates are among the highest in the public sector. The purpose of this study is, thus, to support HMPPS in improving Band 3 prison officers’ (POs) retention and in developing an effective employee retention strategy.Design/methodology/approachGrounded in retention literature, the present study uses a mixed-methods, cross-sectional, phenomenological research design. Primary data was gathered using an online qualitative survey, which was sent to POs working at a public sector prison in the Northwest of England with less than five years of work experience.FindingsThe results highlight the impact of career development and training and development due to their importance to POs in comparison to the POs’ dissatisfaction with HMPPS’ performance in both factors. Furthermore, most expectations of retention factors were only partially met, illustrating the need to reform the existing recruitment process and the translation of expectations into the reality of the role. In conclusion, HMPPS should focus attention on performance-improvement, especially in relation to career development and training and development, as well as investigating and reforming the current recruitment processes.Practical implicationsRecommendations to improve the retention of POs include the improved management of career plans, an increased selection of managers based on their management abilities, increasing training opportunities and equating staff's access to them, and evaluating the effect of payment boosts.Originality/valueThe role of POs and their professional environment has not previously been combined with contemporary retention literature. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this research paper is the first of its kind using qualitative data to understand retention in the English and Welsh prison service.

BackgroundPrisons are a key location to access Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) infected people who inject drugs (PWID). Prison health care structures are complex and optimising health care delivery to this high need, marginalised and underserved population remains challenging. Despite international guidelines recommending that prisons are a priority location for HCV screening and treatment levels of prisoner engagement in HCV care remain low. Competing priorities between security and healthcare is a key feature of prison health care. A collaborative approach to health care delivery in prisons can maximise the benefits for prisoners, staff and the wider community.AimTo identify the barriers and enablers to HCV screening and treatment in Irish prisons and inform the implementation of a HCV screening program within the Irish Prison Services (IPS).MethodsQualitative study using focus group methodology underpinned by grounded theory.ResultsThe following themes emerged from the analysis: priority of safety and security, staffing and resources, concerns about personal risk, lack of knowledge, concerns around confidentiality, prisoners’ fear of treatment and stigma, timing of screening, use of peer workers, in-reach hepatology and fibroscanning services. The primary role of prison security is to ensure the safety of staff and prisoners with a secondary but important supporting role in health care delivery. Maintaining adequate staffing levels and the provision of training and education were seen as priorities and impacted on prison officers’ fear for personal safety and risk of HCV transmission. Opt-out screening and peer support workers had high levels of support among participants.ConclusionUpscaling HCV management in prisons requires an in-depth understanding of all barriers and facilitators to HCV screening and treatment. Engaging prison officers in the planning and delivery of health care initiatives is a key strategy to optimising the public health opportunity that prisons provides.

With the global spread of COVID-19, there is a compelling public health interest in quantifying who is at increased risk of contracting disease. Occupational characteristics, such as interfacing with the public and being in close quarters with other workers, not only put workers at high risk for disease, but also make them a nexus of disease transmission to the community. This can further be exacerbated through presenteeism, the term used to describe the act of coming to work despite being symptomatic for disease. Quantifying the number of workers who are frequently exposed to infection and disease in the workplace, and understanding which occupational groups they represent, can help to prompt public health risk response and management for COVID-19 in the workplace, and subsequent infectious disease outbreaks. To estimate the number of United States workers frequently exposed to infection and disease in the workplace, national employment data (by Standard Occupational Classification) maintained by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) was merged with a BLS O*NET survey measure reporting how frequently workers in each occupation are exposed to infection or disease at work. This allowed us to estimate the number of United States workers, across all occupations, exposed to disease or infection at work more than once a month. Based on our analyses, approximately 10% (14.4 M) of United States workers are employed in occupations where exposure to disease or infection occurs at least once per week. Approximately 18.4% (26.7 M) of all United States workers are employed in occupations where exposure to disease or infection occurs at least once per month. While the majority of exposed workers are employed in healthcare sectors, other occupational sectors also have high proportions of exposed workers. These include protective service occupations (e.g. police officers, correctional officers, firefighters), office and administrative support occupations (e.g. couriers and messengers, patient service representatives), education occupations (e.g. preschool and daycare teachers), community and social services occupations (community health workers, social workers, counselors), and even construction and extraction occupations (e.g. plumbers, septic tank installers, elevator repair). The large number of persons employed in occupations with frequent exposure to infection and disease underscore the importance of all workplaces developing risk response plans for COVID-19. Given the proportion of the United States workforce exposed to disease or infection at work, this analysis also serves as an important reminder that the workplace is a key locus for public health interventions, which could protect both workers and the communities they serve.

Burnout is a recognized risk factor for poor organizational commitment across occupational groups. This has not been explored among Sri Lankan prison officers previously. The aim of this article is to identify whether burnout was an associated risk factor for poor organizational commitment in this occupational group. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 1803 prison correctional and rehabilitation officers in 32 prison institutions across the country. Multistage sampling was used. The \"Organizational Commitments Questionnaire\" was used following judgmental validation. Risk factors identified through literature were analyzed using bivariate analysis, followed by logistic regression analysis. Three-hundred and sixty-six participants (20.3%) had poor organizational commitment. Burnout was found significant in the bivariate analysis, and in the logistic regression analysis at P < 0.001 (odds ratio: 2.2, 95% confidence interval: 1.7-2.8). Burnout was an associated risk factor for poor organizational commitment in Sri Lankan prison officers. Interventions for employee burnout would contribute to improved organizational commitment.