Prison / Probation - Case Studies

Rank on Exit: LSgt

Years of Service: 24

Qualifications Gained: resettlement course

 

With 24 years’ service behind him with 1st Bn Coldstream Guards – in locations such as Bosnia, Kenya, Canada and the Falklands – LSgt David Shipsey left the Forces in 2004, having specialised as both a signals instructor and driving instructor. He is now working as a segregation officer at HMP & YOI Reading, where he has worked since leaving the Services.

 

The skills and training gained in the military that he has found useful in his new career include taking pride in his turnout and the ability to get up early! A resettlement course gave him a ‘great insight to the Prison Service’, and he found this CTW useful, saying ‘It showed that there is nothing to worry about when you leave. Help and advice is available.’

 

His current job involves ‘running a unit where prisoners who have broken the rules are placed in segregation as a punishment. We give them their entitlements, but under strict rules and control. The unit is also available for prisoners who may require protection from other inmates. I work with 18–21-year-old males, which corresponds well to working with young soldiers and helping with their problems. My job is challenging, but I enjoy working with the young prisoners. What I dislike is the political correctness, which can cause some difficulties.’

 

Now he has left the Forces, the advantages are, he says, that ‘I know my shift patterns in advance and can also book leave when I wish. I am rarely away from home for long periods, apart from occasional training courses.’ In terms of prison officers’ salaries, he reports that ‘A new officer’s starting salary is £18,135 pa, but after one year this increases to £20,254. An officer can attain the highest salary level in just six years.’

Rank on Exit: Staff Sergeant

Years of Service: 24

Qualifications Gained: Custodial Care NVQ 3

 

Staff Sergeant Mark Whiting served nearly 24 years in the Army before leaving in July 2007. He finished his time in the Adjutant General’s Corps Military Provost Staff serving in the UK and Germany, and on operations in the First Gulf War, Bosnia, Kosovo and Iraq. ‘Working at the Military Corrective Training Centre in Colchester gave me invaluable experience in how to deal with people. It developed my interpersonal skills. I achieved the custodial care NVQ 3 that has to be achieved by all new Prison Service entrants in their probationary year. I also obtained my NVQ assessor and became a control and restraint instructor.’

 

A ‘very useful’ Career Transition Workshop – ‘I picked up bits of information that were really helpful’ – was followed by ‘extremely well run’ first aid at work and emergency medical technicians training. An internet job search led to his current position as a prison officer, which involves: ‘The security of those who have been committed to imprisonment, their management and the detoxification of those addicted to controlled substances.

 

‘I really enjoy the interaction with the prisoners and using interpersonal skills to reason with people who can be aggressive. There are many similarities between the MCTC and a prison. Both hold people deprived of their liberty. The procedures are not that far from each other either.

 

‘Camaraderie in the Prison Service is not quite as good. It is nice to get to work though and call the boss by their first name. The difference in wages is not too bad. I start on £21,561 a year plus my London weighting of £4250. After six years I will be on the same wage as I was in the Army on about £31,000.