Ex-convicts hired to work inside jails for £25,000 wage
Ex-convicts are being hired to work inside jails – sparking fears of corruption.
Bosses want “big numbers” of former lags working inside because they have “lived experience”. It is understood they can apply to work in rehabilitation roles and as support workers, on wages starting at £25,600. Tasks include security checks, overseeing prison visits, working in control rooms, escorting contractors and monitoring inmates’ phone calls.
Senior management believe ex-inmates can offer a unique insight and cut reoffending rates. But the recruitment drive was blasted as “a recipe for disaster” by one ex-officer – while prison union the POA said frontline roles for ex-lags would be “akin to lunatics taking over the asylum”.
The plans were let slip by HM Prisons boss Amy Rees in a podcast before terror suspect Daniel Khalife ’s escape from Wandsworth jail, south London. POA assistant general secretary Mick Pimblett said: “While we support the idea of rehabilitation, this really is a step too far. The crisis in our prisons can be resolved by taking steps to reduce violence, increase pay and increase staff morale.
HM Prisons boss Amy Rees"Not producing these hairbrained ideas, brought up to appease reform groups and justify the excessive numbers of staff employed in headquarters – while staff on the frontline deal with the fallout of senior leaders’ incompetence.” Ian Robinson-Phenix, 50, who worked at HMP Isle of Wight for 10 years, said: “Hiring anyone with a criminal record is too close for comfort.
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"We already have a severe problem with corruption. Putting an ex-convict in there is a recipe for disaster. You know too much.” And Kane Dixon, 29, a former officer at HMP The Mount, Herts, said: “It’s a ridiculous idea. It would make it very unsafe. Corruption is bad enough as it is.”
On the day Khalife fled, 80 staff were absent from Wandsworth jail – though bosses denied there was understaffing in the area he escaped from. Police are probing whether Khalife, 21 – who was recaptured four days after escaping strapped to the underside of a delivery truck – had inside help.
Under the recruitment plans, convicted criminals will undergo strict vetting. Former Brixton jail governor Mrs Rees told the Up Shot podcast for ex-lags in June: “We’ve committed to recruiting quite a big number of people with lived experience.” Asked how existing staff would react, Mrs Rees, who earns £155,000, said: “I can say from my direct experience, they’ve taken to it absolutely, brilliantly, and they love it.”
She said a colleague with lived experience “works in my direct office and is brilliant... I love having her around”. The Ministry of Justice refused to say how many former prisoners it employs or how many it aims to hire. It said former cons would be “excluded” from frontline jobs after concerns raised by the POA.
A Government spokesperson said: “We committed in 2021 to leading other employers by example by giving suitable former offenders the opportunity to work in the Civil Service where safe to do so. A stable job is key to reducing the risk of them reoffending.”
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