INTERVIEW
MURDERERS, BIG-TIME GANGSTERS AND TERRORISTS: THIS FORMER PRISON OFFICER SAW EVERY SHADE OF NASTY CRIMINAL IN THE YEARS HE SPENT PATROLLING BRITAIN’S TOUGHEST PRISONS
Paul Ward was born into a typical Yorkshire family near Leeds, England, in 1957. He walked the traditional path of a working-class man of his generation, forgoing higher education for an apprenticeship in engineering. He then found himself employed by the Prison Service. By his own admission Paul wasn’t sure how it happened, but as a green 22 year old he walked into HMP Wakefield, a category A prison holding some of Britain’s worst criminals, and landed a job as a prison guard.
Over the next 33 years Paul climbed a career ladder working in some of the UK’s most infamous lock-ups, including HMP Full Sutton and Strangeways, which brought him into contact with the highest profile perps in Britain. His day-to-day included navigating the tempestuous mood swings of Charles Bronson, looking after and writing reports on IRA terrorists and keeping a lid on an excitable prison community when a Kray gang member entered the fray. But bit by bit prison politics and corruption made his job as a ‘screw’ intolerable. We spoke to Paul about what it was like to work alongside some of the UK’s most dangerous men, the 18 months he feared for his life and the turning point that made him jack it all in.
What’s it like being a new prison guard on your first day?
To be honest, a lot of prisoners just get on with their own business. But yeah, you go in there and they see your shiny new suit on – Iwas 22 with this great big hat on… HMP Manchester [Strangeways] had what they called a Borstol Allocation Centre, [young offenders] go straight there from the courts. They were probably more a problem to me than the [older] adults because they saw me as somebody who was kind of their age – they saw me as a challenge. With the older officers they’d do exactly as they were told, they were like little tin soldiers. You have to put on this pretend air of authority, which does give you confidence in life. It did make me feel better really: you give a few orders, they try it on and you put them down. Eventually they realise they’re not getting anywhere. Initially it was quite intimidating because you’re on your own with anything up to 20 prisoners. You do have alarm bells and there’s assistance just around the corner, but they can do a lot of damage in ten seconds. Even in my later service they still tried it on with me, but in a different way.
It took two to three months to get used to it and to the other officers as well. There were some pretty intimidating pe
