Reflections on working in prisons

I am sitting in the visitors centre and waiting until staff is ready with lunch. Then I can go back inside the prison and follow up with my coaching sessions.

Since the visitors centre is technically a part of the prison, I am still wearing a big belt with a massive chain and a purse for keys and a whistle. I consider whether I should hide it all? Families of the prisonersdon’t have to be particularly happy to see one of the officers sitting in their area.

Before I get back to the houseblocks, I will have to deposit my mobile, recollect my ID, pass through a body scanner and X-ray my belongings. Then follows a detailed personal control, some finger print checks and high security gate. After all of those I will be able to collect the keys and start my journey to the client.

Yesterday, in a different prison, I wanted to count how many doors I open and close during the day and I lost the count sometime after 17. How many times could it be altogether, 30 maybe 50? Is it enough? Do the doors change anything?

In theory I meet relatively low risk prisoners. Most of them ended up in prisons because they were selling drugs (but seldom used them). But this is the official version.

To survive on the streets, these kids are not afraid of using knives or guns. They fight with unpaying customers with really unsure results. In the prison they are intimidated by former business partners, enemies and friends. I often find them in a segregation unit.

Prison is a jungle on a micro scale.

Even without being a specialist, you see that many prisoners have ADHD, depression or bipolar disorder. You never know what to expect. One day, they welcome me when I come to their door, the next week they are not in a mood to follow with our sessions.

This job is a valuable journey deep inside my soul as well. I have to have a very strong emotional spine not to take it all personally. It requires also loads of patience, when everything changes randomly but you still have to stick to very strict rules at the same time.

Then I ask myself if there is a hope for my clients? On one hand I know there is, most of us live an organised slow life and we do not have a slightest problem with that. On the other hand I know that these young, money driven people have never tried any reasonable alternative to making fast and very good money on the street. Is the society ready to offer them any realistic alternative?

What else could we do to make our world so attractive that young people would not exchange it for LV trainers? Let’s think together. There is a lot to do.