Civil Service in the news
Reflecting on life behind the prison gates
19/11/2007 - Ministry of Justice [External website] 
Pam Chalk received the Prison Officer of the Year award for her work at HMP Wealstun in West Yorkshire. We discover why she won the top honour.
You don't have to spend long with Pam Chalk, a senior officer at HMP Wealstun in West Yorkshire, to find out why she's so admired by both colleagues and prisoners. She's hardly through the security gate when a prisoner in his early thirties, waiting for a taxi to take him to a job interview, stops her to talk about his lack of prospects.
“Don't be disheartened,” she says. “I can't help being disheartened, I'm only human. I've never had a job. I've got 160 previous. I've been in jail all my life,” he replies. She tells him she'll speak to one of the resettlement staff about a placement, but adds: “I don't know what he can and can't do, but I'll have a chat with him.” The prisoner thanks her.
Afterwards she says: “He's applied for 90 jobs. He wants to work, but he's a prolific offender and no-one wants him. Sometimes we turn people out with £50 in their pocket, but how can you live on that? You need a job.” It's the same throughout Pam's shift. Prisoners stop her to chat about something she's chasing up for them, or just to say how she's helped them.
One says: “She will help anyone who needs helping, as long as it's sensible. She'll get on with it and you know she'll follow it through.” Another describes how she arranged a home visit so he could visit his mother who is dying of cancer.
Pam runs the prison's listeners scheme which provides volunteers, trained by the Samaritans, who sit down for a confidential chat with people with problems to share. The prisoner coordinator values Pam's guidance and says his team of listeners helps tackle bullying and self-harm, adding: “Someone might have had a bad visit from a girlfriend, or made a phone call to someone in hospital. Problems here can seem a lot more serious because we can't do much about them.”
Pam's manager is principal officer Bill Hosie, who recently transferred to Yorkshire from HMP Highpoint in Suffolk and is delighted to have Pam on his team. He says: “She certainly justifies the award. She always goes the extra mile.”
What keeps Pam busy?
During her decade at HMP Wealstun, Pam has worked on the open side, but is currently on the closed side as the senior officer for B Wing, in charge of a team of six which looks after 159 prisoners.
The shift begins at 12pm, and she spends her first hour on paperwork. Later, she helps supervise the line route, a busy half hour when most prisoners leave their cells to walk to work places within the prison such as the laundry or gardens, or attend courses such as bricklaying, catering and artwork.
Her team also chases up people who should be working, but aren't. “Most of them like to go to work, but there's always the odd one who doesn't want to do anything. If someone doesn't go, I give them my 'career talk' in the office.”
Prisoners on B Wing have a strong incentive to co-operate because they enjoy enhanced privileges that new arrivals don't, such as more time to mix with other prisoners, snooker tables and watching DVDs at weekends.
“If they get two warnings I get them in and tell it how it is, and they know it might mean leaving the wing. In my experience, 99 per cent toe the line. They realise what they'll lose,” says Pam. When the prisoners walk back to their cells, at around 4pm, she helps supervise the route again before they are served their evening meal at around 5.30pm.
She never knows what drama might erupt on a particular day. “You see someone with a black eye, and that can take up a lot of time making inquiries,” she says.
What's the hardest part of Pam's job?
“When we have to tell a prisoner when someone has died. I really feel for them because they can't be with their families, or when they get a 'dear John' letter because someone has ended a relationship. I've had people in the office in floods of tears,” she says, brandishing a toilet roll that stays on her desk, adding: “I think they like talking to me because I'm a bit older.”
And the rewards?
“People in here have a lot of issues such as family problems, or child abuse. If someone goes out of here with a job and meets someone and does all the family stuff, or comes off drugs, that is a success.”
In a typical day she walks the landings to chat to prisoners and visits officers working on the segregation unit. Her other duties include organising the shift rota and helping to supervise family visits. The last job of the day is taking a roll call, when every cell is inspected to make sure the prisoner is there. Then she hands over to the nightshift at 8pm and it's time to leave the world of Wealstun for a few hours.
Further information
HMP Wealstun has both a closed side, which holds 500 closely-monitored Category C prisoners, and an open side, where 300 prisoners enjoy greater freedoms within the prison as well as the chance to take a job outside as part of their rehabilitation before release. Pam has helped many prisoners with their application to transfer to the open site.
There are 141 prisons and young offender institutions across England and Wales, including 11 contracted out to the private sector. They hold around 80,800 prisoners and employ 50,000 staff. For more information see the Prison Service website.