Mark Fairhurst, the national chair of the Prison Officers’ Association (POA), is nostalgic about his early days working in Britain’s jails. When the Scouser joined the profession in the early Nineties, aged 22, life for him and his fellow prison guards was “fantastic”. “It was really disciplined,” Fairhurst, now 55, told me when we met at the trade union’s north-London office. “We had plenty of staff. Prisoners were disciplined and more respectful… They all had to wear uniforms [not mandatory today] and if they weren’t dressed correctly, they were sent back to their cell to get dressed correctly, and they accepted that.”
“Everyone was proud of the job they did.” Even the burly prison governor would “get round the wings” and make their presence felt. “They used to know you by your first name, and they used to work with you to resolve problems. That’s all deteriorated over time.”
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