Ian Gunn was a Governor in four prisons in Scotland over a 22 year period. He worked with male prisoners, female prisoners and in a prison which held only sex offenders. He shares some of the lessons he learned during his service, from how to respond when sex offenders tell him they're innocent, to being taken to court by a prisoner for staff opening his confidential mail. Ian shares some of the stark differences between working with male and female prisoners, tells us about a hostage taking situation which lasted almost 20 hours in HMP Aberdeen and why a 'tough on crime' approach doesn't work. Ian also shares that prison officers are often overlooked and deserve more recognition for the work they do.

Timestamps

[01:21] How Ian joined the Scottish Prison Service directly as a Governor

[07:57] The first time Ian realised people aren’t in prison to be punished

[11:45] Ian shares some differences between working with male and female prisoners

[21:43] Ian shares about a hostage situation that occurred in HMP Aberdeen

[28:00] One of the biggest challenges Ian dealt with as a Governor

[38:33] Why a ‘tough on crime’ approach doesn’t work for most people in prison

[42:14] Working at HMP Peterhead, which at the time held convicted sex offenders

[52:25] Some misconceptions about prison governors

[57:57] How prison changed Ian’s personality

[59:56] What can we do to improve prison officer wellbeing?

You can connect with Ian here.

Evolving Prisons links

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The views and opinions expressed by the guests on this podcast are not the views or opinions of the host.