Posted 20 June 2017

Prison Officer RAD...the dreaded role plays!

Hi guys!

I recently took part in the Prison Officer Assesment day and failed on the role play. I am retaking this on Thursday! I failed on the Assertion, Showing Understanding and Respect for Others. I kept getting hung up on what the actors had said previously and was assessing myself on the fly which had a big negative impact obviously.

Another reason for my failure was because I did not know about the prison policies. One actor, who was a visitor, didn't have his ID and I did not know whether I was allowed to say that I would speak to my manager or if there was another way I could neautralise that one.

Another guy, who was an inmate, started talking about not having money for his family back home so he was drug dealing in the prison...not quite sure what route I was supposed to take then.

Has anybody got any advice on these particular situations, or any help in general? I just couldn't get passed the fact it was a test and not talking to a real person.

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20th Jun 2017
I presume you have some knowledge of the Prison protocols/rules because otherwise there's no way you would know what to do if the person arrived without ID.The short answer in medicine, and it's probably the same for prisons - if in doubt "I'll just have to go and have a word with my senior colleague to check what we should do."

For the second scenario, almost certainly meant to explore why the prisoner needs to send money back home, remind them it is against the law to drug deal and can result in a longer prison sentence, and support them in making benefit applications on behalf of their family whom are clearly struggling. You may even ask, on their behalf, of point them to prison jobs as a way of earning money and sending it back to their family. That way you are showing understanding of their situation and giving positive solutions And say empathetic things of course, "I can see this is very difficult for you and we're here to support you via X, Y And Z"....
(edited)
20th Jun 2017
I would imagine that for the ID scenario they may well be looking for you to be assertive and deal with it robustly yourself as the policy is likely to be no ID no entry regardless of circumstances so going to ask your Manager etc may not be what they're looking for, however you may need to be prepared to concede and check with a Manager just to show that you're not a 'jobsworth'. Completely agree with the other advice about how to deal with the inmate dealing.
The issue with any of these 'role play' scenarios is that there aren't any right or wrong answers and they are looking for an overall level of ability etc.
20th Jun 2017
prisonofficer.org.uk/vie…806
This link may be of use , one of the posters has some fairly comprehensive advice .
Author
22nd Jun 2017
Firefly120th Jun
I presume you have some knowledge of the Prison protocols/rules because …I presume you have some knowledge of the Prison protocols/rules because otherwise there's no way you would know what to do if the person arrived without ID.The short answer in medicine, and it's probably the same for prisons - if in doubt "I'll just have to go and have a word with my senior colleague to check what we should do."For the second scenario, almost certainly meant to explore why the prisoner needs to send money back home, remind them it is against the law to drug deal and can result in a longer prison sentence, and support them in making benefit applications on behalf of their family whom are clearly struggling. You may even ask, on their behalf, of point them to prison jobs as a way of earning money and sending it back to their family. That way you are showing understanding of their situation and giving positive solutions And say empathetic things of course, "I can see this is very difficult for you and we're here to support you via X, Y And Z"....

Skaman20th Jun
I would imagine that for the ID scenario they may well be looking for you …I would imagine that for the ID scenario they may well be looking for you to be assertive and deal with it robustly yourself as the policy is likely to be no ID no entry regardless of circumstances so going to ask your Manager etc may not be what they're looking for, however you may need to be prepared to concede and check with a Manager just to show that you're not a 'jobsworth'. Completely agree with the other advice about how to deal with the inmate dealing. The issue with any of these 'role play' scenarios is that there aren't any right or wrong answers and they are looking for an overall level of ability etc.

tinkerbellian20th Jun
https://prisonofficer.org.uk/viewtopic.php?t=9806 This link may be of use …https://prisonofficer.org.uk/viewtopic.php?t=9806 This link may be of use , one of the posters has some fairly comprehensive advice .

Thanks for your help guys! Really helped.

I have another question, if you guys would know...When I start my POELT, I'm assuming weekends we will have off(?) but wanted to know what happens in terms of payment, if any? I have a house and car that I'm paying off...would I be on payroll from the beginning of training or is it one of those situations where I should/should have started saving before I applied?

Thanks!
22nd Jun 2017
Have a browse on the website I quoted above as most questions have been asked on there. You will get paid for the POELT, also you can claim expenses, diffferent amountsdepending on if you are staying at the training centre or commuting to one, but you have to claim for those seperately. Working week for POELT is 37 hours I believe, so assume Mon - Fri only.
(edited)
21st Oct 2021
Firefly120/06/2017 12:55
I presume you have some knowledge of the Prison protocols/rules because …I presume you have some knowledge of the Prison protocols/rules because otherwise there's no way you would know what to do if the person arrived without ID.The short answer in medicine, and it's probably the same for prisons - if in doubt "I'll just have to go and have a word with my senior colleague to check what we should do."For the second scenario, almost certainly meant to explore why the prisoner needs to send money back home, remind them it is against the law to drug deal and can result in a longer prison sentence, and support them in making benefit applications on behalf of their family whom are clearly struggling. You may even ask, on their behalf, of point them to prison jobs as a way of earning money and sending it back to their family. That way you are showing understanding of their situation and giving positive solutions And say empathetic things of course, "I can see this is very difficult for you and we're here to support you via X, Y And Z"....

Good advice....