Role Exit in Prison Officers

Sarah Nixon is a senior lecturer in criminology at the University of Winchester, UK. Her research interests include desistance and peer support programmes in prison and community settings; the impact of desistance education on the working practices of prison officers; and autoethnographic research on being a gay female prison officer and experiences with suicide/self-harm and trauma. Sarah previously worked as a prison officer for six years at a Category B adult male prison in England and is a member of the Prison Research Network and the Pracademic Network in conjunction with De Montfort University.Darren Woodward is a lecturer in criminology at Arden University, UK. His research explores desistance from crime, prisons, and the experiences of people involved in criminal justice. Before entering academia, Darren spent 17 years as a prison officer, working at two large prisons in England in various capacities, including landing officer, offender supervisor, and offending behaviour facilitator. Darren is also a member of the Pracademic Network in conjunction with De Montfort University.

"There is certainly a need for more texts like this about the lived experiences of former prison officers. The market is saturated by ex-prisoner accounts yet there’s still a huge gap of ex-prison officer accounts. This book helps to fill that gap which will be a refreshing insight for many practitioners, pracademics, and students alike! It draws on many of the same themes always associated with ex-prisoners such as desistance which includes the process of reintegrating and identity transition. There is also a strong theme of Sykes seminal work about the Pains of Imprisonment which although focuses on the deprivations experienced by prisoners, can most certainly be translated to the lives of prison officers who are affected in many ways by the pains of imprisonment as prisoners themselves!"David Honeywell, Lecturer in Criminology, Arden University, UK"Contributing to a growing body of work on prison staff, this book presents a unique opportunity to explore the lived realities of personal, professional and cultural transitions involved in leaving the prison service. Role Exit in Prison Officers: Returning to ‘Civvy Street’ delivers an opportunity to understand why prison officers are leaving the service, particularly focusing on voluntary termination, medical retirement, and discharge. This is timely work in the wake of the recently seen ‘exodus’ of experienced operational prison staff who are, crucially, well-versed in ‘jailcraft’. Interrogating the liminal space between employment in the prison service and what lies next in the lives of those who leave, this publication deals with important issues of transition, burnout, and identity reorientation. Much like the resettlement and reintegration into the community of those who have served prison sentences, the return to ‘civvy street’ for former prison officers comes with its own unique set of personal challenges which require attention in the penological field. This publication will be of interest to academic, practitioner, and policy maker communities and should be embraced by all with an interest in the impact of carceral spaces on people who work within them."Helen Nichols, Senior Lecturer in Criminology, University of Hull, UK"Nixon and Woodward combine professional experience with scholarly knowledge to produce this book, which is written with insight, empathy, and nuance. It is a great read for criminology students and scholars and for those who seek to better understand the realities of working in prison."Francis Pakes, Professor of Criminology, University of Portsmouth, UK

• 1. Introduction 2. Prison Officers and Penal Environments 3. Methodology 4. Theoretical Framework 5. Positive Aspects of Working as a Prison Officer 6. Doubt/Burnout/Frustration in the Role of Prison Officer 7. Searching for Alternatives Away from the Prison Service 8. Departure from the Prison Service 9. New Role/Identity Post-Prison Officer: Returning to ‘Civvy Street’ 10. Conclusion and Recommendations