Friday, January 17, 2025 - Newly recruited prison officers in the UK, including many from Nigeria, have been reportedly seen camping or sleeping in their cars to save on accommodation costs.
The recruitment of foreign workers has been part of a strategy to
address the shortage of personnel required to manage the UK’s overcrowded
prisons. For the first time, the UK prison service has been sponsoring skilled
worker visas for overseas recruits following a change in the rules that allows
them to recruit from abroad.
Prison governors have confirmed that a significant number of the new
recruits come from Nigeria, and many are skilled workers or individuals
switching from other visa routes. However, the Prison Officers Association
(POA) has raised concerns, reporting that some overseas recruits arrived under
the assumption that accommodation would be provided alongside their employment.
Mark Fairhurst, the president of the POA, shared the case of a foreign recruit
who was commuting 70 miles from Huddersfield to Nottingham for work but
eventually decided it was cheaper to sleep in his car outside the prison.
Another recruit from abroad set up camp in a wooded area opposite a facility
upon realizing there was no accommodation offered.
“We have got problems with people who turn up at the gates with cases in
tow and with their families saying to the staff: ‘Where is the accommodation?’”
Fairhurst said.
The surge in recruitment followed a change in visa rules in October
2023, allowing prison officers to be listed as skilled workers eligible for
sponsorship. Sources from the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) revealed that up to 250
foreign nationals have been sponsored to work in the prison service after
undergoing Zoom interviews and vetting. The demand for recruits has been
particularly high from Africa, with reports stating that in one month last
year, two-thirds of the 3,500 applicants came from the continent.
Tom Wheatley, president of the Prison Governors Association (PGA),
explained that the recruitment trend has been fueled by online promotion within
the expat Nigerian community. However, this influx of foreign recruits has led
to difficulties in some prisons, including challenges with integration into
local communities in remote rural areas, as well as issues related to language
and communication
Fairhurst also criticized the prison service’s recruitment policy,
particularly the practice of hiring officers through Zoom interviews, urging
the service to return to in-person interviews. He expressed concern that
recruits were being hired without face-to-face interviews and given only six
weeks of training, which he argued was insufficient to properly prepare them
for managing prisoners.
“The process is simply not fit for purpose,” Fairhurst stated, noting
that this approach had led to the recruitment of under-qualified and corrupt
officers.
The growing concerns about the quality of recruits have been echoed by
statistics revealing an increase in misconduct among prison staff. A record 165
prison staff were dismissed for misconduct last year, marking a 34 percent rise
from the previous year. Recently, a former HMP Wandsworth prison officer was
jailed for 15 months after being filmed engaging in inappropriate conduct with
an inmate.
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