Diary of a trainee prison governor
 Quitting the bank to work in the tank |
Scott Bumby is on the prison service intensive development scheme for trainee governors. He is 29, and working at Wormwood Scrubs prison as deputy head of operations. This is his account of his last three years.
Here, he reflects on key moments from the past three years.
SEPTEMBER 2005: I was working on a graduate training scheme for a bank when they asked me to man their stand at a graduate recruitment fair.
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At lunchtime I had a walk around some of the other stands and had an interesting chat with some of the people from the prison service. I ended up applying to it, and here I am for the first day of my intensive development scheme! I think it's going to be very different. Something with plenty of variety.
OCTOBER 2005: Today we've been learning how to relocate a prisoner if they refuse, putting them into a new cell and then getting yourself out safely. There are certain holds you use where you can just put a little bit of pressure on and give quite a bit of pain just when you need it which gets people to do what you want. I've also been really interested to learn that I've got certain powers of arrest. I've been warning my mum and dad about that.
|  You go in, remove the ligature, the nurse checks them, you check the woman's ok, maybe have a bit of a chat with her and then carry on as normal.  |
NOVEMBER 2005: I'm now a qualified prison officer. The first couple of weeks after I finished my training have been quite hard. I spent most of the time on a really busy unit and there was so much going on that there wasn't time for other staff to sit down and tell me how to do things.
Now I've moved to a quieter unit at Holme House Prison and learned quite a bit. About a third of the population is foreign nationals and some speak little or no English. It must be very hard for them and it's hard for the staff as well, to try and communicate.
JANUARY 2006: I was working on this unit on Sunday evening and one of the dorm rooms had rung their emergency bell. It was dark so I couldn't see anyone in the room. I shouted: "Are you all right ladies?" and I put the light on. And for a moment I was quite concerned because there was no-one in there.
Then they started giggling because they were all hiding in the toilet. They found it very amusing. So I gave all four of them an official warning which they didn't like because it can lead to a loss of privileges.
MARCH 2006: I don't remember specifically the first time I removed a ligature because they happen quite frequently. It's over so quickly that it's just another part of the working day.
You go in, you remove the ligature, the nurse checks them, you check that the woman's ok, maybe have a bit of a chat with her and then carry on as normal. You get quite used to it. I know there are times when it is more serious but I haven't come across anything like that yet.
| You get to the stage where you just dismiss phone call requests out of hand because you've become so sceptical. |
DECEMBER 2006: This is the second Christmas that I've worked. I've moved to Pentonville, which is very different here than it was at Holloway. There at least it felt slightly Christmassy and I quite enjoyed myself.
I was prepared for a lot of tears but it wasn't too bad. We organised some events to keep the women occupied. Here at Pentonville it's not fun at all. Most of the male prisoners have more of an attitude of "I don't want to be here. I just want to get through the day and forget all about it."
MARCH 2007: I've lost count of the number of prisoners who will ask whether they can have a phone call because their three-week old baby has just died, or something similar.
The really sad thing is that one in 300 of them might have a genuine problem. But you get to the stage where you just dismiss it out of hand because you've become so sceptical.
As you spend more time in prisons and with difficult prisoners, you do get worn down. It's a huge challenge to keep the staff motivated. I try to bribe them by bringing in sweets and biscuits at weekends. It only helps a little bit.
 The office - Wormwood scrubs |
AUGUST 2007: I came here to Wormwood Scrubs a couple of months ago, doing an admin job, but I'm now deputy head of operations. My biggest responsibilities are receptions, where prisoners are processed in and out of the prison; and visits, where all legal and social visits take place.
I knew coming on to the training scheme that we'd progress really quickly but I was still surprised by how quick it was. It's almost laughable that I was in a governor's job after little more than 18 months. I do feel the pressure of responsibility for all the people who come under my management.
JUNE 2008: The senior officer in receptions came to complain that he was short of staff today. Because of the population pressures, prisoners are arriving at the prison later, so staff are going home later.
But they still have come into work at the same time in the morning. I regularly have officers complaining that it's not on.
And I agree with them. But it doesn't change the fact that we've got more work to do with the same resources. The trickiest problems are the ones where I completely agree with the staff and there's very little I can do about it.
DECEMBER 2008: I'm sure I've changed quite a lot. I think I've become more left-wing than I thought I would. There are so many really complex issues to deal with.
I think I'm slowly coming round to the viewpoint that you can't tackle crime and re-offending unless you deal with the root causes at the start of people's lives - good education, housing and parenting. All the things that get people at the start of their lives before they start going off the rails.
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