Shannon W Unit 27: Social Welfare Services P5, P6, M2
(P5)
Prison Officer- A prison officer works within a prison and they have the responsibility for providing a
safe and secure environment for prisoners as well as partly playing a role rehabilitating prisoners. To
ensure they do their job effectively, prison officers need to build a positive relationship between
themselves, the prisoners and their colleagues and trying to maintain a balance between
compassion and authority. Prisons are predominantly run by the public sector who employ and train
people to work in them. Some prisons are run by private companies such as G4S, Serco and Sodexo.
Prison officers are needed to ensure that they maintain order in prisons however, they are not
always successful when doing this because the prisoners have a tendency to run the prison as they
can often get what they want, when they want it. The number of prison officers is also currently very
small, meaning there isn’t always enough staff to maintain control. It would be good to have some
figures here of the number of prison officers cut over the last 5 years or so. A statistic states that
there are 7,000 fewer prison officers now than there were in 2010 and this fall followed on from the
2010 spending review which reduced funding for the Ministry of Justice. On the other hand, I don’t
think they are successful in terms of job security because the average prison officer leaves after 1-2
years of service and an article from the independent states that ‘A third of prison officers who leave
the service quit within a year of starting.’ Prison officers work with people from several different
organisations. To begin with, prisoners are brought to the courts to be put on trial and prison officers
will have to work alongside prison custody officers (PCO’s) in order to escort and transport prisoners
between custody, courts and prisons. Prison custody officers work for private companies such as
GEOAmey. Prison officers will work alongside the NHS, whether this is when a prisoner is required to
go to hospital due to an injury or as a prison nurse. As a prison nurse, you could either be working
directly for the NHS or be employed by a private healthcare provider who will be delivering services
within the prison on behalf of the NHS. Police are the final organisation prison officers will have to
work with. Prison officers will liaise with the police in order to find out their prisoners current and
previous convictions.
Victim Support Volunteer- A victim support volunteer helps provide victims of crimes with
emotional and practical support. Victim support workers are volunteers, therefore this means that
they voluntarily work for free, in their own time. They aim to achieve to provide victims of crime
with specialist support to help them cope and recover from the tragic events to the point where
they eventually feel like they can continue with their lives as normal. On the victim support website,
it states that ‘this year we supported 76,332 victims through our National Contact Centre, home to
our 24/7 Support line.’ This shows that it is an effective service and it entirely funded through
donations. Make it clear that Victim Support is a charity although most of the office based staff are
paid. Again – who would Victim Support work with in terms of other organisations (e.g. Police,
community groups, IDVA etc) Victim support is a registered, independent charity which relies heavily
on being funded by public donations. However, their main source of income is from ‘Police and
Crime Commissioners and other statutory and non-statutory bodies’ (victimsupport.org). There are
also paid roles within victim support which will be funded by these. Victim support volunteers and
workers liaise with a few different organisations. A few examples are the police, independent
domestic violence advisor’s (IDVA’s), various community groups, the criminal injuries compensation
authority (CICA) and their clients GP.
(P5)
Prison Officer- A prison officer works within a prison and they have the responsibility for providing a
safe and secure environment for prisoners as well as partly playing a role rehabilitating prisoners. To
ensure they do their job effectively, prison officers need to build a positive relationship between
themselves, the prisoners and their colleagues and trying to maintain a balance between
compassion and authority. Prisons are predominantly run by the public sector who employ and train
people to work in them. Some prisons are run by private companies such as G4S, Serco and Sodexo.
Prison officers are needed to ensure that they maintain order in prisons however, they are not
always successful when doing this because the prisoners have a tendency to run the prison as they
can often get what they want, when they want it. The number of prison officers is also currently very
small, meaning there isn’t always enough staff to maintain control. It would be good to have some
figures here of the number of prison officers cut over the last 5 years or so. A statistic states that
there are 7,000 fewer prison officers now than there were in 2010 and this fall followed on from the
2010 spending review which reduced funding for the Ministry of Justice. On the other hand, I don’t
think they are successful in terms of job security because the average prison officer leaves after 1-2
years of service and an article from the independent states that ‘A third of prison officers who leave
the service quit within a year of starting.’ Prison officers work with people from several different
organisations. To begin with, prisoners are brought to the courts to be put on trial and prison officers
will have to work alongside prison custody officers (PCO’s) in order to escort and transport prisoners
between custody, courts and prisons. Prison custody officers work for private companies such as
GEOAmey. Prison officers will work alongside the NHS, whether this is when a prisoner is required to
go to hospital due to an injury or as a prison nurse. As a prison nurse, you could either be working
directly for the NHS or be employed by a private healthcare provider who will be delivering services
within the prison on behalf of the NHS. Police are the final organisation prison officers will have to
work with. Prison officers will liaise with the police in order to find out their prisoners current and
previous convictions.
Victim Support Volunteer- A victim support volunteer helps provide victims of crimes with
emotional and practical support. Victim support workers are volunteers, therefore this means that
they voluntarily work for free, in their own time. They aim to achieve to provide victims of crime
with specialist support to help them cope and recover from the tragic events to the point where
they eventually feel like they can continue with their lives as normal. On the victim support website,
it states that ‘this year we supported 76,332 victims through our National Contact Centre, home to
our 24/7 Support line.’ This shows that it is an effective service and it entirely funded through
donations. Make it clear that Victim Support is a charity although most of the office based staff are
paid. Again – who would Victim Support work with in terms of other organisations (e.g. Police,
community groups, IDVA etc) Victim support is a registered, independent charity which relies heavily
on being funded by public donations. However, their main source of income is from ‘Police and
Crime Commissioners and other statutory and non-statutory bodies’ (victimsupport.org). There are
also paid roles within victim support which will be funded by these. Victim support volunteers and
workers liaise with a few different organisations. A few examples are the police, independent
domestic violence advisor’s (IDVA’s), various community groups, the criminal injuries compensation
authority (CICA) and their clients GP.
