Prison staff and the health promoting prison

Abstract

Purpose: This paper aims to discuss some of the obstacles to implementing policy and strategy related to health promoting prisons. It focuses on the role of prison officers and raises issues concerning their conditions of service, training and organisational culture in a situation where the prison system faces security issues, overcrowding and high levels of illhealth among prisoners. Design/methodology/approach: This paper emerged as a result of significant overlapping themes between two separate studies conducted by the authors. The paper draws on the authors' qualitative data from these studies. Prison staff and the health promoting prison

Challenges for prison governors and staff in implementing the Healthy Prisons Agenda in English prisons

“…A new policy document, which encapsulates these expectations and promotes collaborative work to break down such insular mentality, may ensure greater longevity of the Agenda.Finally, this study has highlighted the disparities in perspectives on the challenges prison staff encounter in embracing the Healthy Prisons Agenda. For those who operated outside the prison structure, prison officers were seen as underplaying the value of rehabilitation and overplaying the need for security, consistent with existing studies that have revealed a micromanagement culture that can be detrimental to the Agenda 9,[13][14][15][16]. By contrast, this research further suggests that internal prison staff view it as pragmatic not to care about prisoners' health, and that security should always take precedence over rehabilitation.…”

Perspectives on implementing smoke-free prison policies in England and Wales

“…On this point, there has been significant reductions in prison staffing over the past five years (The Howard League for Penal Reform, 2014). In addition, research suggests that prison staff do manipulate health policy at the point of delivery and that prison officers have considerable agency in opposing those elements of policy which do not fit with their organisational culture (Dixey and Woodall, 2011). Whether this is more or less likely because of a prison officer being a smoker or a non-smoker is unknown, but this may warrant further investigation especially as research shows that around one-third of prison employees smoke (Ritter et al, 2016).…”

Physical Fitness of Prison Officers

“…Maintaining a high level of physical fitness requires a regular daily physical activity, which is especially vital in occupations in which physical fitness is an indispensable attribute. The recent studies concerning physical efficacy have been conducted among policemen (Bukowiecka, 2006;Bullock, 2007;Gajewski, Biernat, Jasionek, 2004;Rossomanno, Herrick, Kirk, Kirk, 2012), firemen (Moulson-Litchfield, Freedson, 1986), security forces officers (Ambroży, Stanek, Ciućmański, 2009;Hoffman, Collingwood, 2005;Klukowski, Raczyński, Mazurek, 1997;Tomczak, 2010), as well as prison service personnel (Bourbonnais, #0# Malenfant, Vézina, Jauvin, Brisson 2005;Dixey, Woodall, 2011;Jamnik, Thomas, Burr, Gledhill 2010;Jaskowiak, Fontana, 2015;Jaworska, 2015;Łapiński, 2002;Wojciechowski, Bergier, 2016). Scientific reports concerning the physical activity of the uniform services draw attention to the work difficulty and specificity (Moulson-Litchfield, Freedson, 1986), indicating problems with coronary disease and the necessity of regular training programmes, as well as regular work assessment ability.…”