Justice Unions — Prison Workers Face Increased Challenges in the Wake of the Pandemic

Work in the justice and custodial sectors involves various roles in and around prisons. Justice Unions across the UK recognize the challenging nature of these professions. Prison workers often face highly stressful circumstances, volatile conditions, and emotionally draining encounters.

In the last two years, these conditions have been vastly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. The effects of isolation and stress have been felt worldwide, but few places were as dramatically affected as prisons. For people in prisons and their families, times have been significantly harder whilst social visits were suspended. Prisoners faced up to 23 hours behind closed doors to avoid spreading the virus.

This article will discuss what challenges have arisen for prison workers in the wake of the pandemic and how Justice Unions can help address them.

How Covid Restrictions Impacted Life in Prison

We cannot talk about the conditions faced by prison and custodial workers without talking about the conditions for prisoners. These two parties spend much time together, and one heavily affects the well-being and mood of the other.

During the pandemic, health and safety regulations forced prisons to enforce stricter rules on prisoners and increased isolation. As a result, prisoners lost contact with their friends and family. According to a report by the HM Inspectorate of Prisons in February 2021, adult prisoners only got to spend 90 minutes outside of their cells each day from March 2020.

Social visits have also been suspended, which is particularly difficult for parents in prison.

As a result of this increased isolation and fewer face-to-face interactions, prisoners’ mental health plummeted, which sadly also led to an increase in reports of self-harm and instances of suicides.

The problem is only exacerbated by a lack of access to technology, which could otherwise have been used to help prisoners reconnect with their loved ones in trying and worrying times.

To create improved workplace well-being for custodial workers in prisons, it is essential to acknowledge how interconnected their well-being is with that of prisoners. Whilst Covid-19 restrictions ensured that fewer prisoners were incarcerated and prison populations decreased, the numbers are now once more on the rise.

The struggles prison workers face in the wake of these restrictions are as follows:

• Prison workers are more frequently becoming witnesses to poor mental health and have to watch other people suffer loneliness and isolation. This can have severe effects on the mental health of custodial employees in turn.
• Increased stress factors in prisons risk an uptake in verbal and violent incidents. Whilst the pandemic has brought about a slight decrease in assaults, there is no guarantee that workers can feel safer going forward. Over 86% of justice sector workers reported having been verbally abused in the past year. In addition, 26% claimed to have been verbally abused daily.
• With prison populations on the rise again, there is also an increased risk of spreading Covid-19. As a result, prison workers are under more pressure to make regulations work in an inherently difficult situation to protect themselves and prisoners from the virus.

Justice Unions Like Community Are Here to Help

Our union in the justice sector recognizes how important custodial and justice workers are to the upkeep of public safety in the UK. That’s why they deserve a robust support system to guide them through the increasingly volatile workplace in the wake of the pandemic.

Community is committed to the “Keep Safe” campaign. The campaign aims to help the government work with staff, employers and unions to develop a clear plan to reduce assaults on staff in the years to come.

We support policies like:

• Assaulting staff must lead to tough responses
• Increasing staffing levels and retaining experienced staff
• The same respect should be shown to all officers, regardless of whether they work in the private or public sector
• Health and safety has to improve across the sector

If you’re not a member of a justice union yet but want to participate in the fight for a better workplace, head to our website today. We support members in workplace disputes, provide legal advice, and present you with networking and training opportunities. But most importantly, we fight for a safer future for justice and custodial workers. Join that fight today!