Prison is keen to recruit more female officers

There are currently 74 uniform staff at the prison, only 13 of whom are female, with three of them in senior and two in principal positions.

Two of those officers, senior officer Michaela Rabey and offender supervisor Laura Camp, were keen to promote a career at the island’s prison.

Both were at pains to point out that Guernsey Prison was very different to prisons in the UK, and nothing like the prisons people saw on TV.

‘People’s perception of what being a prison officer is, is not the reality here,’ said Ms Rabey.

‘It’s a small prison so we get to do so much more and get to know people much more.

‘We have it from prisoners too, and we have to reassure them that it is not like their idea of a UK prison at all.

‘People think it can be a dangerous environment and it can be unpredictable, but the team are very professional,’ she said.

‘At the end of the day I like my job. Any job you have has good days or bad, but ultimately I like where I work. The vast majority of prison officers are here because they want to help and break the chain of reoffending.’

The prison is one of the only mixed facilities in the UK, although male and female prisoners have their own wings and only really mix during education and training.

Staff all start as ‘landing officers’ and work in both parts of the prison, and then have the chance to specialise as their careers progress.

Relevant experience is not a prerequisite for the job and neither of the officers had a predictable path into the prison service.

Before joining the service Ms Rabey worked in Waitrose and ran her own paper round, and Ms Camp had worked at Cable & Wireless.

‘I had a few problems when I was younger and wanted to use that experience to help other people,’ said Ms Camp.

‘Every officer here wants to be part of that rehabilitation. One of the only frustrations with the job is that we want to do so much more, you want to make a difference.’

She added that one other recent change may make a difference to women who may have rejected the career path in the past.

‘Training is here now rather than in the UK – and there is a more "Guernseyfied" feel to it. I think that six weeks away had put mums off in the past.’

Governor John de Carteret said he was keen to increase the ratio of male to female staff closer to 50-50.

‘We definitely need to encourage more females to apply for positions here,’ he said.

‘We will be actively recruiting in the near future and I would ask anyone looking for a change in career to consider us.’