FACTSHEET
What could monitoring bodies check?
An officer who had experienced direct
“
racist abuse from a colleague had been
deeply affected: “I often think about leaving
the prison service, my home life is affected,
I don’t know what to do. My aim was to
keep a low profile and to blend in but I can’t
handle what I am now encountering. ’24
”
Over the last few decades, an increasing number of
women prison officers have been employed, including
in men’s prisons around the world, with recognised
benefits.25 However, women prison officers often
experience gender-based discrimination, in particular in
the masculine environment of a prison.26 Studies have
documented that this includes ‘remarks about their
appearance, sexual joking and teasing, false rumours
about sexual involvement with inmates or other staff,
obscene phone calls, and constant reminders of their
‘female’ status’.27 Women prison staff may also be
disadvantaged professionally because of a mistaken
perception that they are unable to perform prison officer
work to the same standard as men.
A high ranking prison officer in Zimbabwe
reported that most female prison officers are
discriminated against and shunned by their
male counterparts at work and by society at
large.
‘[M]ost female prison officers are looked
down upon by their male counterparts
who do not appreciate their efforts. Some
sections of society also regard female
officers as having loose morals.’ The officer
reported that, if a female officer attains a
higher rank, fellow officers do not give her
due respect owing to the widespread, but
incorrect, belief that female officers can only
get promoted if they engage in immoral
behaviour with their bosses.28
• What type of institution is in charge of the prison?
How does this affect the organisational culture and
the working conditions of staff?
• What is the organigram for the prison/ organisation?
How do prison officers view their management?
To what extent do prison officers feel supported by
management?
• Are prison officers unionised? What is the influence of
the union on working conditions, industrial relations
and the working atmosphere in prisons?
• What is the atmosphere among colleagues?
• Are there indications of a punitive ‘esprit de corps’?
Have prison officers felt pressure from colleagues to
act a certain way towards prisoners?
• Have prison officers experienced discrimination or
abuse at work?
• Are women prison officers given the same roles,
opportunities and salary/benefits as male prison
officers?
• Are regulations, policies and mechanisms in place
to prevent and address discriminatory practices? Do
officers have confidence in these?
3.2 Factors related to recruitment, training
and initial placement
“
Unfortunately […] the status of prison
staff is very low in most countries. Little
attention is given to their proper recruitment
and training. A large majority will not have
sought a career in the prison service in
particular, eg they might be former military
personnel, people who have been unable to
29
find other employment etc.
”
Ensuring that people with the right personal qualities
and skills are employed as prison officers is important
both for the prison system as an organisation and for
individual staff members. It increases the likelihood that
they will come to the role with a sense of vocation, will
gain satisfaction from their work and remain motivated
and committed. Penitentiary systems therefore need an
24. Singh Bui H, and Fossii J, ‘The experiences of black and minority ethnic prison staff’ in Bennet J, Crewe B, & Wahidin A, (eds.), Understanding prison
staff, Willan Publishing, 2008, p57.
25. ‘The presence of women “softens” the prison environment and normalizes it to an extent by introducing a female presence into a male-dominated
environment’, see Newbold, G, Women Officers Working in Men’s Prisons, Social Policy Journal of New Zealand, Issue 25, 2005, p110.
26. Rule 30 of the Bangkok Rules requires that, ‘There shall be a clear and sustained commitment at the managerial level in prison administrations to
prevent and address gender-based discrimination against women staff’.
27. Lambert E, Paoline E A III, E Hogan N, & Baker D, Gender Similarities and Differences in Correctional Staff Work Attitudes and Perceptions of the Work
Environment, Western Criminology Review, Vol 8, No 1, 2007, p17.
28. ‘Prison officers battle stigma’, The Zimbabwean, 6 March 2013, http://www.thezimbabwean.co/news/zimbabwe/64109/prison-officers-battle-stigma.
html.
29. UNODC, Criminal Justice Assessment Toolkit: The prison system, Section 6.4 – Personnel, p35.
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