Thing is, they don't know how big the bloke they've offended is. It's a bit like road rage - they don't know what they've let themselves in for. When we open them up, they find out, and it goes off again. That's when we have to get in between them. They work under the constant threat of violence, a threat which regularly becomes reality.
Divorce rates are high and alcohol is part of the culture.
Among officers, as well as prisoners, physical and psychological abuse is routine and high rates of sickness are endemic, running at a national average of nine days a year per officer. Nowhere in Britain's creaking public sector, save perhaps for behind the doors they are paid to lock and unlock, is there a body of men and women that feel as unappreciated, reviled and wretched. Even police officers say that in comparison, they feel appreciated. Some, if not all, of the ordure heaped on prison officers is deserved. Inmates allege routine abuse of powers by officers, and privately a police officer suggests prison officers are central to the distribution of drugs among prisoners.