18 Years A Screw

The following narrative about life within the Scottish prison system was written from the personal perspective of a young prison officer who served almost two decades in various jails including Barlinnie, Glenochil and Cornton Vale, Scotland's only all-female prison.

John was a typical 22-year-old working class guy from the eastern suburbs of Glasgow, having the usual interests of someone that age; like music, cars and lassies. Feeling the economic effects of Thatcher's Britain in the 1980's and facing redundancy, it suddenly struck him that in desperate times we sometimes need to take desperate measures. So one night over a few beers, he impulsively decided that becoming a prison officer might be the answer to all of his long-term job worries.

How do young people with so little life experience cope in a profession where confrontation and extreme violence are a regular hourly occurrence? What are the attractions of being a prison officer? How difficult is it to develop working relationships with the type of people you find behind bars?

Some of John's anecdotes can be eye opening and pretty shocking at times, while other situations he found himself in were very comical. These are first-hand accounts written by someone who spent 18 years working behind those bars, building relations with inmates as well as staff and hearing their captivating stories from their own unique perspectives.