Pause for thought

I had a telephone call this afternoon from a local prison asking me if I would like to return to the voluntary work that I did for 21 years. It stopped me short in my tracks because I had never considered returning to that line of work.


It is an interesting role and can be extremely rewarding. Volunteers to join the Independent Monitoring Board (IMB) are drawn for members of the general public. Appointed by the Secretary of State. IMB members act as independent observers of all aspects of a prison regime and as such have access at all times to the prison to which they are appointed. The work is voluntary and unpaid.

I must admit I was very tempted to accept the offer. Then I thought about the huge responsibility and exactly what is involved. Having to be satisfied regarding the treatment of prisoners, the state of the prison premises and the facilities available to prisoners to allow them to make purposeful use of their time. Reporting matters of concern to the Governor and when necessary to the Secretary of State. Then there are their personal problems and those of the staff, all which is in the remit of an IMB member. That is before you are requested to attend adjudications as a visiting magistrate, as and when these days, as a lot of them are now done internally by staff.


Then I thought about why I left. Lack of enthusiasm in the end, the huge time commitment involved and constant and wearing comments from those around you, friends and family, about 'the soft option' in prisons and how they are like hotels etc, and you get tired of answering the criticism. Anyone who has ever been inside a prison knows there is no such thing as a 'soft option'. They can be dreadful places, many Victorian buildings, which no matter how you try to improve them, still are just that. Old, impractical buildings and usually smelling of food or urine, no decent habitat for a human being.


So the answer must be NO. Let someone else, someone younger with all the enthusiasm and commitment that I once had have a go now. With good communication skills and the ability to assess situations and draw conclusions, build relationships with both prisoners and staff, a really committed person could do the job very well. Anyone with a marked reluctance to do these tasks would not be suitable.


My decision maybe not to return, but there is a certain envy for people just starting out in the role. It gave me such huge satisfaction in my life and it has been a sad personal loss to leave it behind.