Founded 1980
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Graham Smith
Jan Thompson
Graham Mumby-Croft


My Fresh Start - Bob Russell

​Reading Peter Atkinson’s recollections of Fresh Start led me to recall my own experience of it and the change it brought to my career path in the Service.

When Bulletin 8 was published I was Head of Management Services (or Admin Officer as I care to remember the role title) at HMYOI Castington at Higher Executive Officer level. 

The reaction to Bulletin 8 among us Treasury grades was (naively) to request that we too should be amalgamated into the proposed new staff structure.

Whilst it seemed fairly obvious that as Treasury grades were already modestly salaried and had no opportunity for overtime there was no need or benefit to the Service for us to be amalgamated into the new staff structure.

The turning point for me personally was the Service stating that whilst they would not be including Treasury grades in the new structure we would nevertheless be granted, I quote, “Parity of esteem”

Whether that was designed to insult I will never know but it certainly had that effect on me to an extent that I began looking for other opportunities within the Service. Quite what opportunities might exist I had no idea but when recruitment to the North Region LIDS team was advertised I jumped at the chance to move on.

The LIDS team was a multi-disciplinary team made up of 2 x Governor grade, 2 x Principal Officer, 2 x Senior Officer, 2 x HEO and 2 x EO wrong) and the team was mainly tasked with the installation of the LIDS computer system into prison establishments.
Whilst I thorough enjoyed my time working with the team the impact on domestic life of being away from home Monday to Friday was not good with my better half having to look after two small boys all week and then doing all my laundry when I got home at the weekend.
At some point whilst on the LIDS team, and I seem to recall spending just over a year on the team, the Service announced, for all managers in the Prison Service (out with existing Governor and uniformed grades) a one-off competition to become Governor grades within the new Fresh Start structure.

Without any great expectation and with no clear exit from the LIDS team I once again ‘threw my hat in the ring’  
My recollection of the competition is somewhat hazy though I do recall a written exercise, conducted simultaneously at various locations nationally, which acted as an initial sift of what at the time was believed to be 300 or so applicants. 
The second and final part of the selection process took part over three days at the staff college Wakefield and consisted of what I assumed to be ‘Country House’ type tasks/activities.

I was fortunate enough to be one of 12 or 13 successful applicants although one chose to remain in his SEO HOMS post.
Training at the staff college totalled, I think, about 5 weeks, and aimed at giving us some idea of the new world we were about to enter (adjudications, Duty Governor, R 43 and so on)

My initial posting was to HMP Durham and whilst I would not have been surprised if there had been one or two comments or nods in my direction as the new ”Queue jumper who has never walked a landing” I found the staff very supportive. The Principal Officer on the first ‘sentenced’ wing I worked on was very helpful and supportive with information and direction. I would meet him later as a G5 colleague at HMP Frankland!

I can still remember later taking ‘prisoner applications’ on the remand wing and being quietly guided to a response by the S.O in attendance as I had little or no knowledge of some remand issues.

My next posting was to Frankland and was preceded at Durham by tales of difficulty and danger due to the types of prisoner housed there. Of course it turned out to be nothing of the sort and again I found the staff to be very much united in mutual support.
My next posting was to HMP Acklington where I later served under Peter Atkinson. I found Peter to be a caring and thoughtful leader who would always try to carry the staff with him and I think it was Peter who reinforced in me the belief that we managers were nothing without our staff.  

On the assumption that Peter is reading this I should perhaps take this opportunity to explain something that I think may have confused Peter.  Peter always chaired a meeting of Governor grades on Wednesday afternoons and invariably all the governor grades had assembled in the boardroom before Peter took the chair. I’m fairly sure that on at least one occasion Peter entered the room and wondered why the seats either side of me were vacant as they so often were. The reason for the vacant seats was that I had a reputation for surreptitiously carrying out a prank during the meeting on anyone who found themselves unable to avoid sitting next to me. Enough said.

One final posting saw me return to Frankland and then retirement. So Fresh Start changed my working life. 

I have many happy memories of my time as a governor and it’s fair to say it was a time that was far more challenging but far more rewarding, not only financially, than the earlier years ‘flying a desk’ in Admin.  

Issue 88 - Spring 2023