Still inside!!

posted by Bunnery on Wed 6th Feb, 08 at 18:38:00

I need to do more blogging - I really miss it.

Things in the Prisons are still okay. Although we do seem to be getting rather more unpleasant and difficult customers in The Library there. They are getting more wily too - it can be a real battle of wits. I don't even like them to get away with pinching the TV page of The Sun - and it really spoils my day if one manages to nick a magazine on my watch. I have to have eyes in the back of my head....

Seems that they love to take pictures out of Dirt Bike. Well they do ask for the kind of naughty mags that you find on the top shelf at WHSmiths - but they are not allowed those - so they have to make do with the sleek curves and pneumatic tyres of an offroader to drool over ;-)and put them down their socks! I make them take them out again and then make a show of carefully stapling them back into the magazine.(I wear rubber gloves and a mask - hehe!) Don't always catch them though - and by the end of the month, Dirt Bike consists of just the front and back cover!!

Their favourite occupation, whilst enjoying the delights of the library though, is to wind each other up. This can be quite amusing to eavesdrop on. Hey - I'm not being nosey - we have to keep our ears open for any possible security issues. Last week they were making fun of one of the bigger, more ferocious inmates (oops - sorry - "trainees") because he'd let it slip that he was actually inside for robbing a Spar of £3. The funniest part was that he'd previously been inside the shop to buy a can of coke and something to eat - not noticing the CCTV cameras. He'd gone outside, sat on the wall to enjoy his lunch, then donned a mask and gone in again to threaten and rob the owner. The fact was that the banking had just been done - and the only money in the till was the money he'd just handed over for his lunch!! I think he's lost his street cred now. He did actually look embarrassed - a first for him!!

I've been on a training course today - Managing Conflict, which I think could come in useful.It was full of psychology - which fascinated me. Apparently it can take longer to recover from witnessing a violent incident between other people than from being attacked oneself. This is particularly relevant when you work with young offenders.It seems that this stems from not being able to control the situation. You can rationalise things that happen to yourself. Anyway - things are much better in my other job. Although we do get our fair share of weirdoes in there too - and there's no alarm button on the wall that will summon three burly officers within seconds.I'll tell you about some of them next time...

Keep smiling :-)