(somber music) - [Narrator] Britain's prisons
are bursting at the seams. As record numbers of
criminals are locked up, the prison service can't sign up officers to guard them fast enough. (door slamming) They've launched a recruitment drive, particularly aimed at ethnic minorities, but hard-bitten screws think they've made it too easy
to get a job behind bars. Now, this notoriously secretive profession is taking all colors
and getting all sorts. (people chattering and laughing) - The thing is we've got to make prison officers out of this lot. That's what's scary. - [Narrator] If they can prove themselves in just nine weeks some of
the most violent criminals in the country will be
guarded by these raw recruits. (recruits cheering) - [Recruit] Didn't do it. - [Officer] Didn't do what? - [Narrator] Our class comes from across the social spectrum. - [Officer] Lovely. - [Narrator] An ex-bus driver. A civil servant. - [Officer] Lovely. - [Narrator] A lorry driver
and a hospital orderly. - Next. - [Narrator] The youngest
is 21, the oldest 47. (camera beeping) - [Officer] Big smile for me. - [Narrator] The job of
turning these novices into hardened prison officers falls to Rob Joseph and Jill Lewis. - Lots of people tend to think that we're big and butch, that all prison officers have tattoos, that they're all skinheads, and that we beat seven belts
out of people every day. (recruits laughing) That's one of the myths. The other one is that we do
nothing but open and shut doors. - Keep smilin'. - [Narrator] The prison service is under orders to respect the needs of its multicultural,
ethnically diverse population. Their political masters say
too many offices are white when a quarter of all prisoners are not. To correct this imbalance, the entry rules have been changed. Today, the only qualification needed is a clean criminal record. - Jolly good, here we go. We've been getting through a lot more of the trainees, quicker and faster. I know a lot of staff that
have been working for years see similar staff coming in now, and they believe that
everything's been lowered just to get these
members of staff through. So, we haven't lowered anything, but we're lookin' at things
in a different perspective. Now, as you know, you're going
into a high security prison, and there's certain things
that you can't talk about. We know you're gonna go home 'cause you all live with
partners and family. And we all know you're gonna go home, and you'll wanna talk to 'em. Fair enough, you can talk to 'em, but there's certain things
in the prison service we can't talk about. (ominous music)
(wind whistling) (prisoners chattering) - [Narrator] The world behind
the barbed wire is secretive, and nowhere more so than the jail where the group will train, Belmarsh Prison in southeast London. Housing some of the country's most notorious criminals
and terror suspects, Belmarsh's critics have dubbed it Britain's Guantanamo Bay. (equipment clanking) But the prison service sees
Belmarsh as its flagship and says this is the most
secure prison in Europe. No one has ever escaped. Our recruits are about to discover whether its fearsome
reputation is justified. You boys will be in the Belmarsh chain. (ominous music) - It's raining again. - [Narrator] All that the recruits have had to do so far is
pass a series of short tests assessing their aptitude,
fitness, and health. No one has ever asked them why they want to become a prison officer. - There is no interview, which personally I find a bit unnerving because I think you can get a lot from interviewing somebody, but they've cut the interview out. There's no interview. (mellow electronica music) - What do you think? - Nice. - [Narrator] With little to go on. - Too small. - [Narrator] The trainers have to be on the lookout for the recruits who will struggle to adapt to prison life. - This is my whistle. - Take the tissue out. - You'll be better off
in trousers on the wings, all right, especially in a male prison. Sometimes better for you
to wear trousers, yeah. - It's just I'm not very
happy with unregulated waist and the color. - It's a uniform, not a
fashion show, all right? Prison service has two sizes. It fits, or it doesn't, okay? Sort it. (laughing) (prisoners chattering) (banging sound) - Belmarsh covers 64 acres. It's 1.3 miles around wall if
you wanna walk around here. I know a lot of people
go running at lunchtime, don't they sometimes, Mrs. Lewis? - [Jill] Sometimes they do do that. - I think the average
time is what, 15 minutes? - 15 days for me. - 15 minutes, unless unless they're doing dog training around the back. Then, it's usually four minutes. (everyone laughing) Belmarsh was finished back in 1991. Then, I think they only had something like 150, 200 prisoners, but we're now lookin' at
just under a thousand. At this present time, I think we have in the region about 400 prison officers. On a daily basis, we must have at the most a hundred working. We're outnumbered, aren't we? (ominous music) (prisoners chattering) - [Narrator] Belmarsh houses
all kinds of prisoner, from shoplifter to terrorist, debts defaulter to pedophile. Ian Huntley, Ronnie Biggs, Jeffrey Archer, and Abu Hamza are all recent guests. Some are here for a few days. Some for life. To the newcomer, it can seem like a vast, volatile institution
full of unpredictable menace. Within hours of arriving, the trainees are brought face to face with
the cons they'll be guarding. - Here I come.
- Hey, wanker. - [Narrator] Men like convicted
murderer, Allan Savage. - This is Mr. Savage. He's a lifer prisoner,
serving a life sentence. - Hello, Mr. Savage. - Single cell, okay. Single bed there, obviously
television, kettle, running hot and cold water
and a toilet behind you. In a triple cell, you will
have this slightly bigger, only slightly bigger,
with two bunk beds in it. So, basically as I've said before, this is this prisoner's home. - [Jaia] Do you go out much? - Ah, sometimes, sometimes. - You must prefer staying in. - I prefer me own company with a book. - [Jill] And there's
nobody that he can really get to know that well because
they normally pass through, don't they?
- Only short-termers. - [Jill] That's right, yeah,
and when you're a lifer it's a whole different ballgame really. (men laughing) - I smile at some of 'em
'cause I think I look at 'em, and you can just see they're
just straight out of a catalog. They're brand new out of the box, and they get wound up. You know, we'll take the pierce if we can. - [Narrator] Ricky McDonald was first sent to prison for stealing cars, aged 16. He moved onto robbing trains. A career criminal, he spent
over half his adult life inside. - Well, I was a kid when I
got my first prison sentence and went more out. I've got seven and a half,
and I was 15 and a half. I'll say between 15 and
17 years actually served, which is not good. It's quite a bad CV,
really, isn't it? (laughing) - When you come in here, you get 28 days to enter all the preparations. (man yelling) - [Narrator] From day one the trainees are encouraged to develop
their interpersonal skills with the prisoners and
to abandon any prejudices they have about the criminal fraternity. - The idea you got in your
head that every, you know, all criminals are dangerous. We need to readjust to that
they are not all dangerous. There are people you can reason with, and you can talk to and help, and respect, and they will
respect you back for that. - [Officer] I put in
two actually to go out. - Mustafa Buka is exactly
the sort of recruit the prison service urgently needs. An Arabic speaking Muslim in Belmarsh, he'll be in a minority of one. - Yeah, but you can only
have a shot in the man. Whereas in another jail. - [Rob] So, what did you write? - One or two problems. Mr. Buka, I think he's gonna be great. I think he's going to be,
he so desperately wants it. - When I first spoke to him, I said, "But Muslims pray five times a day. "When you working the landing, "you can't just walk off and pray." And as he said to me, "Well, it does say in the Koran "that the employer comes first." So at the end of the day, he's willing to. - [Jill] Willing to wait. - Yeah, wait until he finishes
his duty, then go and pray. - [Narrator] Our jails
are being transformed. Officers must cater for prisoners from almost every faith and creed. - In general, all religions, do they actually get to celebrate
the religious status of? - Yeah, we have, Friday we've
got, we have Muslim service. If there's any other holy
days, we fit that in. Sundays we do the major
Christian festivals. We have a Polish minister comes in, a pagan minister comes in, Sikh minister. The rabbi will be in today somewhere. He'll be around somewhere. He normally comes down to see me, but he's not around at the moment. - [Narrator] In today's prisons, even the chapel has to be
multifunctional, multi-faith. - Do you see the curtains? If the Muslim faith come in, they put curtains across
pictures and the Madonna, okay? - [Rob] We have prayer
carpets around the back. - And there's prayer mats around the back. How many Muslims do have amongst us? Mr. Buka. Everybody else happy to
take the oath on the Bible? - [Jaya] Is there a Gita? - Is there a? - [Jaya] A Gita. - Sorry?
- Gita. - Gita? I have no idea. Mr. Baker, is there? Say that again. Is there a?
- Gita. - A Gita? - [Jaya] Yeah. It's the equivalent to the Bible. - It's the equivalent to the Bible. - [Jaya] That's what I always do. - All right, we'll have
to leave yours then and sort that out for you, okay? Never heard of it. Off you go. One, two, three, go. - I, Kevin Turner, promise
that I will faithfully serve our Sovereign Lady the
Queen as a prison officer and that I will obey
the rule to the service. I will discharge all duties
of the prison officer faithfully according to the law. - Thank you very much. Right, it's just Miss Carea, and we'll sort yours out tomorrow for you. - [Narrator] Attracting recruits from beyond the traditional
white, working class has meant appealing to
candidates from all cultures. Prison is alien territory
to most of our trainees. Some are in for more
of a shock than others. University graduates, Jaya Carea is a devote Hindu and mother of four. - Yes, we do hear abusive language, and unfortunately in there you're gonna hear an awful lot of it. - I just want to tell everybody that I do find it very highly offensive to use abusive language,
and I do get very upset. I'm really sorry. - Don't apologize.
- Don't apologize. - The only problem you may have. There are certain scenarios
that we will be doing where I'll be swearing. I'll be playing a prisoner. Miss Lewis will be playing a prisoner. And we try and put
reality into this, okay? So, there will be times
where we will swear. There are occasions when I swear anyway. So, that's a life. - [Jill] Miss Carea? - Yes. - She is such a nice lady.
- She's gonna have problems. She's such a nice lady.
- She is such a nice lady, but this is not, personally,
this is not the job for her. - I don't think so. I do feel that it's like putting a nurse in the A&E department and
sayin', I don't like blood. You know, for somebody
that can't stand swearing, that's the first issue. She's gonna have a real
reality, wake-up call because it just seems to
me wherever we've been, there's been a problem. Picking up the uniform,
there was a problem. - She may be just that, you
know, trouble follows her. - (chuckling) But what did
it have to follow her here? (gentle keyboard music) (prisoners chattering) - Now, I'll tell you what we can do. - No, we're lost. We're lost. (laughing) - [Narrator] Belmarsh is like a labyrinth, and they don't publish maps. This group has been assigned
to the segregation unit where the most violent
or vulnerable prisoners are kept in solitary confinement. - We did have a prisoner,
who will remain nameless, one of his traits was to self-harm, and what he would do is
actually open up a wound, bleed all over the cell, and
the door, and the hatches and rub excrement in it and
all sorts of things like that. That's why we have these cells. (door banging)
(lock clicking) - [Prisoner] Hi, I need to speak to ya. - What's up, mate? What do you want to say? - [Prisoner] I've been in this
jail for a month and a half. I'm 21 years old. I've been down here a month, four weeks. - [Officer] What do you want? - I've got nothing to do. I mean, I can't write. I can't read 'cause I'm dyslexic. Stuck in a cell. I'm bored, bored. I'm not sayin' give me a pair of wings. I'm an angel. I'm an inmate. - Oh, God, somebody just
keep me for a second. - Well, you know, you
know why you're down here. I don't know your full story. - Someone is shouting
from that cell next store that he's lying. - [Interviewer] In there? - Saying, "He's lying." - [Prisoner] You say that now, but you don't do anything for me. - [Interviewer] Do you feel sorry for him? - I feel like a coward
if I say yes, don't I? I do, but it's just me. - [Interviewer] Do you think
you'll toughen up in time? - Yeah, definitely. (people chattering) - [Officer] Always stay in sight and sound of a regular officer. - [Narrator] At 25, Sharifa Wade is one of the youngest trainees. Having previously worked with Securicore escorting prisoners, she already has some
experience of prison life. - Well, there's lots of
things you can see on a wing. There's prisoners that can kind of kickoff or see some people are suicidal. There's, you know, there
could be death in custody. There's all sorts of things that I'm probably gonna see
when I go out there, but let's just take each
day as it comes really. (gate humming) - [Narrator] Sharifa will eventually serve at one of the oldest and
bleakest establishments in the prison service, Brixton
Prison in south London. As the visiting trainees soon learn, it's severely overcrowded
and desperately understaffed. (people chattering) (van squealing) On some days it means the
prisoners arriving from court are held in vans until
cells can be found for them. - Looks like they're
actually enjoying themselves. - [Sharifa] They are. A little bus ride for them. (laughing) - [Narrator] On other days, it means that landings
are largely unsupervised so all the prisoners have to be locked up. - [Sharifa] There's no one in
this bubble here, you know? - [Officer] Aye? - There's no on in this bubble. - [Narrator] Today the trainees are having difficulty finding inmates on whom to practice their newfound skills. - [Officer] There's nothing
happening up here either. - [Narrator] If there are not
enough officers on a wing, the prisoners can be stuck
in their cells for hours. - You have to have two staff on each wing, and the officer there
said he's on his own so. - [Sharifa] They need do some recruitin' to get some new staff, don't you think? - Well, that's why you're here. - Now, if they do posters
for buses and put them on. "Join H-M-P" and have me on
there, what do you think? - (laughing) I mean,
they'd get lots of men. (both laughing) - [Narrator] The trainees learn of one unexpected consequence
of staff shortages. Trusted prisoners are sometimes enlisted to protect officers from
potentially violent inmates. - I mean, there has been occasions where the officers actually
come to the door and said, "Look, I'm gonna leave your cell open "'cause I'm gonna deal with a drug addict. "If anything happens, come and help me out "'cause there's no other staff up here." It's very dangerous for them sometimes. - [Prisoner] Don't ever
talk to me like that. Don't ever, ever talk to me like that. - [Prisoner] I said just shut up. - [Prisoner] Shut me up then. Don't ever talk to me like that. - [Narrator] It's not just physical danger the officers will have to face. They'll also have to
learn to cope emotionally. - Don't think you're coming out. It's a holiday camp. It's far from it, far from it. It ain't just like lock them
up, put them behind the door. And now you've got issues, family issues. Some of them are really
pillars of their family. So when they go, the family falls apart. So, if you can bring a little light in, remember, you're going
home at the end of the day. So no matter what you're going home. They're not. Pressures. It's a very pressurized situation for them as much as it is us. We've had a couple of deaths
unfortunate on the week. Very unfortunate. The other day, we find a
guy swinging, and it does. When you say, ah, goodnight, everybody, hand your keys in, get your tele. You go home. You're like, you're drivin' home thinkin', did that really happen? (trucks rumbling) - [Narrator] Back in Belmarsh, the trainees must learn
how to cope sensitively with men at their most vulnerable. Prison suicides have
reached record levels. Most occur soon after prisoners arrive in the difficult first
weeks of incarceration. - Yeah, I can remember my first night. Didn't sleep. Was in a two-man cell with the biggest man I've
ever seen in me life, and I thought, here we go. But for some people, first
night nerves can go too far, and they end up toppin'
themselves or attempting to. I mean, we had the guy
cut his wrists yesterday. Mike and Zeer cleaned the cell afterwards. A big pool of blood. Clean it up, and then
the next man moves in and haven't got a clue
what's gone in there. (door clanging) - [Narrator] Perhaps the biggest challenge for our new recruits will be dealing with the whole range of
mental health problems. - People cut themselves. People try and hang themselves. Sometimes they succeed. Sometimes we're there in time. Unfortunately, everybody ever gets to know about the people
that have died in custody. Nobody ever gets to know about the quite a few people
that we actually save. Although we're prisoners and officers, we work with these
people on a daily basis, and of course you become
like a little community away from the rest of society if you like. It is very pressured. - [Narrator] Rob and Jill have to try and gently warn their students of the harsh realities to come without putting them
off the job completely. - Retirement, when the
prison officer retires, how many years would he live in retirement before he pops his clogs? Anyone know? - [Recruit] Six years? - Six years, dream on. Should we try about 18 months, two years. It's to do with stress,
like fear of thinking, am I gonna get slapped today? Is someone going to do me? Every prisoner you meet in
the prison is different, every single one. So we can't really say,
oh yeah, he's all right. He's, you know, he won't
stab me from behind. It might be just that
one day that he will. In training now, our hands are quite tied because we have to be careful
of how we affect these people. If we start to scare 'em,
then we've lost someone. The best we can do is warn 'em and say, a prisoner may do this
or prisoner may do that. We'd like to do things
harder, to really prove to 'em this is how the prison service is, but there again, we can't scare 'em. It's a shame really. - We gotta lock you in. - Do you mind? I'm on the phone. - No, I said put the phone down. - Fuck off. Go mind a job you like, all right? - Put the phone down. - [Narrator] The trainees must try to anticipate violence before it occurs. For prisoners, time on the telephone is a jealously guarded privilege
and a likely flashpoint. - Yeah, well, Miss, it's time to go in. - Yeah, well, when I've
finished my call, I'll go. - No, it's not time to finish your call. It's time for you to go in. - Go play with somebody else. - Go and finish.
- Finish your call. You have to finish your call. - What's the problem, Lewis? Put the phone down. - Oh, you're fucking bright, aren't ya? - Put the phone down please. - I'll put the bloody
phone down in a minute. - [Rob] Lewis, back in your cell. Okay, back in your cell. Back in your cell. - By your cell, into your
cell, mmm mmm mmm mmm. You think you're really are. - No, back into your cell. - I'm not goin' in my cell. - Please go, we've gotta
get you back in your cell. - [Prisoner] I can't. I'm angry, all right? You just cut me off the bloody phone. - Because you know the rules. You're gonna have to go back in your cell. - I want to see the SO. Get out of me way, you. You just stood there like
a spare brick already. I'm not goin' anywhere. - You're holding everybody up. - [Prisoner] Oh, what a shame. Where am I goin', Miss? I'm doin' 20 years. Do you think I give a shit
whether you're late home tonight? No. - No, we have to get the other
prisoners up there as well. So, better get in there. The quicker you do it, the quicker we can get
you on the phone again. If you get in there, we will
try doing something for you. - [Prisoner] I'm gonna knock
your fucking lights out next time I see you. - [Jaya] I'm have not promised it, but we will try our best? So, get in there. - Oh, Miss. - [Jaya] Take care. You get in there. There's no need for it
'cause you're holding again, all right? - [Prisoner] Yeah, all right. - Yes, go in there. (door banging) (pounding) - [Rob] Go on against the wall. Go on against the wall. (recruits laughing) All right, let's start from the beginning. - A glimmer of hope. - [Rob] Let's start from the beginning. - [Jill] Who cut the phone off? - I did. - Right, let's start with
this, this beautiful essay. You thought, fuck it. And you went over here
and cut the prisoner off. That receiver would have been embedded in your head slightly. (somber music) Race relations policy. You will see it. I know it's quite a big sign, this one. You'll see this all over the place. You'll also see an equal
opportunities policy as well, which I'll grab hold of,
and I'll let you see. We have another policy
comin' out, diversity. And you may see that about. So we're tryin' to cater
for everyone at the moment, aren't we, basically? Is that right that we do that? - [Recruits] Yes. - [Narrator] The prison service desperately wants to recruit
from ethnic minorities, but it's accused of being
institutionally racist. In training, the contradiction
is addressed head on. - Let everybody understand what institutionally racist means. It doesn't mean that every individual within that organization is racist. It means that the organization
is classed as racist. - There's a lot of people
out there still believe there's a lot of racism
in the prison service. And basically I would say, I would say for Belmarsh,
there's hardly any. Now, I want a stereotypical
view of a black man. 95% are good officers. You get the small minority that are, they shouldn't really be here. They've got a job, and
they've got a job of power. And they like using that power. And at the end of the day, yes,
we have got a lot of power, but you gotta realize these people that we've put behind
doors, they're human beings. A stereotypical view, up you come. A stereotypical view of a white man. - [Narrator] To help the
trainees understand prejudice, they are asked to define
racial stereotypes. - Jewelry.
- Bling bling. You should put bling bling there. It's easier to spell. - Tattoos and that. He's got Millwall on his shoulder. - BMWs. - Who would drive a BMW. - No, no, you'll find the
Africans driving Mercedes. - [Sharifa] Lout, L-O-U-T, yeah. - [Recruit] A, double T, I-T-U-D-E. - [Recruit] Fryer, they love their fryer. - State chips and beans (laughing). - BMW, black man's wheels
and the furry dice. Chip on the shoulder, an attitude. Wog box, drugs, smoking, and dealing. - [Rob] Any more we can think of? - When I think of a black man, I think of a very long, tall (laughing). (everyone laughing) - [Jill] Easy, tiger, easy. - [Rob] Miss Carea, you're scaring me. (everyone laughing) - Apart from the sexual
aspects of that, Miss Carea, have you got anything to add to that? No. - When they first start this course, it's drummed into you,
what you can and can't say, and I think if you follow the
rules, you won't go far wrong. But some certainly we're now at the stage where we're almost frightened to speak to anybody in case we offend them. - Political correctness
is slowly rottin' us, and it's gettin' to a stage now where a lot of staff are thinkin' is this really the job I wanna do? We always say to ourselves,
when is it gonna change? When is it gonna change directions? I would say nearly 90%
of the prison service believe that we've gone too far. - [Mustafa] Can you
put, raise your arm too? About to your shoulder please. - Oh, like that. - [Mustafa] Thank you very much. Okay. - [Rob] Ah, God, I need
to lose some weight. (everyone laughing) - [Narrator] As the number
of official complaints made by prisoners against
officers escalates, the trainees have to be
educated in minute detail how to avoid allegations of abuse. - [Mustafa] Turn around please. Face the wall. - Wait, what have you
just done there, Mr. Buka? Any move you make. Turn there for me please. That's an assault, all right. - Laying hands on. - [Mustafa] Okay. - Don't lay hands on. - You gotta do everything by your mouth. Please do this. Please do that, all right? You know, a prison officer's
job's made quite difficult because we need to be
abreast of what's going on, what they can have, what they can't have, all the legislation. So, there's a lot to keep up with. - I mean, they're in more
in danger than we are, to be honest with ya. 'Cause in the old days it was no was no. Yes was yes. You got fuck off, and plenty of it. That was how it was. Now, they can end up in more trouble. We get just slapped wrists
by the governor basically, but lately they're in a lot of trouble. There's too many gray
areas in the system now, and I, for one, don't like it. (everyone laughing) - What have you got there? No way to get away. No way to get away. (somber music) (prisoners chattering) - [Narrator] While mastering the complexities of political correctness, the trainees mustn't forget their key responsibility, security. They still need to learn the basics. - Right, unlocking, what's
the first thing we do? - [Recruit] Observation. - We check the observation
hatch, don't we? How are we going to look? Mr. Anyemani, come and show
me how you're gonna look. Yep. - Use your finger to shield your face while you're lookin' in.
- Yep, well done. Use your finger to shoot your face, okay? So, if our prisoner behind there decides to that he's gonna poke something through this thing, he's gonna get your hand
and not your eye, okay? - [Narrator] With barely a month to go before they start on duty,
even the simplest of tasks can throw up unexpected challenges. - [Jaya] I can't see up there. (everyone laughing) - [Jill] You can't see? If you can't see, we've got a problem. We have got a big problem if you can't see in a cell, seriously. - You'll be quite surprised. We used to have a height
restriction in the prison service, but that's been harnessed really. - I'm gonna give her a hard time and see how she copes with it. (keys jingling) - [Rob] Foot and shoulder,
foot and shoulder. - What we're gonna do is search your. We're gonna search your
cell at the moment. - Not another fuckin'
strip search, surely. - You can put your head,
head down for me please. Put your arms down. I didn't ask you to put your arms up. - Miss Carea, I'm a senior officer now. What are we doing? - We were doing a search. = Why am I being rubbed down searched? (laughing) - You're getting a cell
accommodations berth check. - Accommodations berth check. - We check. It's not search. It's a check. - Go from outside. Don't shut the door and lock it. Just come in and start again. (door banging) - [Rob] Get in here. - In here? - Get in here. She's gonna have a bad time. And I can see an SO
sayin', well, that's it. I just think she's in the wrong job. - Still?
- Yeah. Still have got, I still have got that. - At least she's tryin' very hard. She is trying very, very hard, but I wonder what she's doin' the job for? Is it to prove to herself
that she can do it, or is it for the right reasons? But we'll see. - Maybe she thought it wasn't
what it's turning out to be. (laughing) Aw, don't. We can't hire 'em, fire 'em. If I say to someone, this person will never
make a prison officer, then that's me advising. It's down to the hierarchy
to make that decision whether they stay or go. (mellow New Age music) - Today's gonna give us havoc. Yeah, it's gonna make it awkward, I know. - What they're doing this morning, it's the first time for
most of 'em to use radios that we use inside of prison. So, a lot of them have got
to learn the technology and deal with it. There's a few of 'em that
have used them before, but even they'll find it hard because they haven't used
correct terminology before. - Miss? Miss, I'll tell ya, we've got to go. You're messin' about now, Miss. So, we've got to get down the gym. Just make a move now. Forget about the radio. They know we're going to the gym. Let's just go. - I'll get them the message. All right, okay, make a move. Let's go. - All right, so you're gonna
move without doing the radio? - [Jaya] I've done it. I've just told her. - You sure? - Yeah, I told her as quick as I can. - RM2XQ from Senior Officer Joseph, can you confirm that Alpha
One made contact with you to move a prisoner to the gym? Senior Officer Joseph, over. - No, no. - Hello, Senior Officer Joseph from M2XQ, that's a negative. I've asked her twice if she
was okay and got no reply. - Wow. - And also sent Delta One with Wade over to see what the problem is. - Yes, see.
- M2XQ, over. - Right, I'm a prisoner again. Make the move. Get on with it, Miss. - M2XQ.
- I want to go to the gym now. - See the button there. It's that one there you want, all right? (radio chatter) Called for your backup there, look. You've got the Teletubbies over here. They aren't gonna help me, isn't they? What are you gonna do, get
them bucks to sit on me? - [Officer] N2XQ standing by. (somber music) (alarm sounding) (man speaking on PA) - [Narrator] A grueling schedule of targets to achieve and details to learn is taking its toll on the trainees. - [Jill] Cannabis has got
a very distinctive smell. It smells of sweaty socks. - [Rob] He's already peed
his pants by now anyway so. - Be under no illusion, people, you could well open a cell
door or look through a hatch and see sexual acts taking place. - [Recruit] Is that too snug? - I think that was a just
a bit too snug, don't you? - You do smell, and you
are fuckin' horrible. And if I had my way, I would shoot ya. Now, that's not nice, is it? - What's the matter with you? - [Narrator] After a month,
halfway through the course, Rob and Jill are gradually
molding them into a team. - Dynamic security. - Whistle. - [Jill] Good lad. (laughing) - [Interviewer] Are
you enjoying it so far? Is it going well? - Yeah, I'm enjoying it
quite nicely actually, yeah. Yeah, and as far as I am concerned, yes, it is going quite fine. It's quite an intensive goal. The best thing about it is I am at the moment getting quite old, and I feel like I'm going back
to the sixth form college. (laughing) - Take a seat over there. - [Narrator] The trainers though are not so confident
about Jaya's progress. - [Rob] How are you feeling
at this present time? Do you still feel the
prison service is for you? - Yeah, I'm still gonna do it, yeah. - Yeah? And you still think that you'll be able to react to a prisoner? Because remember they're not your sons, and you can't send them to their bedroom. I have said that you're lagging
behind on certain areas, certain areas that you need to pick up on. - Do you not find me committed? That's what is worrying
me more than anything. - At times, I find that
you're not committed when we're telling you something, and you're not listenin'. Using your radio. Now, I had to speak to you
about three or four times on how to hold your radio,
how to speak to your radio. - And after that, did I improve? - You improved slightly, yes, but it took.
- Slightly? - Yeah. I could give you book
after book and you'd learn, but giving you something that's practical, and it slows you down a bit. Do you understand my meaning now? - Yes. - That's why in the classroom,
and we ask people questions, you can spell it off from the manual. But when it comes to the
actual hands-on subjects, you're failing slightly. - I need to calm down
a little bit right now. - [Rob] Then, calm down, okay? - There's a lot going in my head. - Go get yourself a cup of tea. And scream and moan in the other room. People don't like screamin' in this room. - But, Miss Carea, his
statement may pinch a sort, but guess what? None of us aren't perfect. None of us haven't done this job before. We're all learning.
- That's right. - And they say I'm not. - You are learning.
- You are learning. From what I can see you are. - What you can see doesn't count. - [Mustafa] Of course it does count. - No, it doesn't count.
- Yes. - You're not gonna hand. You're not gonna hand
over my certificate to me. - Yeah, but if you need help. - [Jaya] That's the general
idea, that I'm going to give up. - No, that's not the general idea. - [Mustafa] That's not what it is. I'm saying.
- Then. Then everybody's got
a thing coming to them because I'm not giving up. - [Mustafa] Sit down. All right. (somber music) (rain pattering) (prisoners chattering) - Two powers of observation. - I'm late. I don't understand. - What after lockup? - [Narrator] As the trainees
near the end of their course, they spend more and more time on the wings putting theory into practice. - Think if you were in this cell, if you were a prisoner,
where would you hide things? - [Recruit] Where people can't see. - [Officer] Be very careful
wherever you're feeling, and you can't see. It's quite likely to get
a needle in your hand if you can't see what you're looking at. Be very, very tentative
when you're looking where you can't see. - [Officer] Wire, what's
he doin' with the wire? - They're not supposed to have that. You're quite right, sir. - Wire.
- Wire. - Keep your sense of humor with the cons. They know the score. They've had this done
to 'em umpteen times. It's part of prison life, being searched. Most of them are right there. - They put us out all the time. (officer laughing) - [Officer] Favorite toys
are the the toothbrush with two razor blades melded
into the toothbrush itself. - [Narrator] The trainees are shown a frightening array of illegal items found during searches in
just the last 18 months before they then learn how
prisoners are punished. - Good morning, Officer, how are you? - Thank you, Mr. Ali, take a seat. - [Narrator] Belmarsh has its own internal and usually hidden system of justice. Prisoners accused of breaking the rules are sent for adjudication
where senior governors like Simon Beecroft act as judge and jury. - [Simon] How do you plead to
damage to the television set? - I did not break the TV. The TV was already broken
when I entered there so. And if you do think that
I broke it, I apologize. - [Simon] What are you
apologizing for, Mr. Ali? - If you think that I broke it without. - I haven't made that
decision yet, Mr. Ali. - Well, Miss thinks that
I've been rude to her. - How can you explain what happened as you've gone not guilty
to doin' it yourself? - Officer, if you think that I broke it. - [Simon] It's not for
me to think anything. It's for you to answer my questions. - If Miss blame me. - Mr. Ali, listen to me.
- Yes, I'm listening to you. - I'm in charge of this adjudication. - [Mr. Ali] Why are you
raising your voice for? - Listen to me. - Yes, I'm listening to you. - [Simon] I'm in charge
of adjudication, not you. - Yeah, yes. - How did this happen? If the cell was checked,
found to be correct, you were then put in the cell, and the television was
then found to be broken. - When I came inside the cell, the TV was on the floor already. - How could that happen, Mr. Ali, when? - I don't know, Officer. - Mr. Ali, the cell was checked
prior to you going in there. It was found to be correct. You haven't offered me any explanation as to how else it could have happened. I find the charge proved. Do you have anything to
say in your mitigation following my finding of guilt? - If you do think I broke it, you can deduct the money from my canteen. - The award is a matter
for me, and I will decide. You lose your canteen for 14 days, and you will lose your access
to a television for 28 days. Thank you very much. - [Officer] Through here. - [Narrator] For new officers, understanding the fragile balance between discipline and
care is complicated. - [Jaya] We've got 20 so far. - [Narrator] It becomes
especially difficult when staff shortages or even wet weather mean that prisoners can't
get out on exercise. These inmates haven't been
outside for three days. - We're lookin' for. - Yeah, you're lookin' for
like groups over there. Keep an eye on the groups. - [Mustafa] Okay. - They make a diversion like. So, you go. There's a bit group over there. What are they doin'? And then over here you've
got a fight kickin' off. - Yeah. - [Jill] Fellas, hey. Not on the exercise yard, thank you. We don't play fight, please. (prisoners chattering) (fire alarm sounding) (radio chatter) - [Narrator] Just minutes after the prisoners have come outside, a fire alarm in another
house block sounds. Jaya takes on the challenge of getting them back in their cells. - What shall I just, Spur Two? Spur Two in, yeah? Just say Spur Two, yeah? Sorry, fellas, exercise finished. Spur Two please. - [Prisoner] What? - Spur Two. Exercise terminated. (prisoners complaining) - [Jill] Excellent. - [Jaya] Spur Two, in now. - I've seen people wearing
out the new officers, and you can see in their eyes, they don't know which way to go. They're like, do I go into 'em? Do I blow my whistle? Do I hit the bell? Some officers will just
automatically blow the whistle or hit the bell, and
then the cavalry arrives. But other ones are just
tryin' to talk 'em down. - [Jill] Fellas, can you listen up please? There's a fire alarm. You need to come in for Spur Two. - [Ricky] But they can't
be seen to back down. If they back down, then
they're in trouble. - All right, we need this
exercise yard cleared, and iron that shirt while
you're there, all right? - [Prisoner] A bit too much
wrinkles in this here, yes? (Jill laughing) (mellow guitar music) (recruits chattering) - All right then, children. Get yourselves, you wanna
get yourselves at that wall. - [Narrator] After weeks of
classwork and observation, our trainees assemble
for the most crucial part of the course, control and restraint. Ex-paratrooper Steve Walsh will assess the trainees' ability to physically restrain violent prisoners. - Think about it. Jesus Christ. Far too many people from Essex here. - [Narrator] This is the
only element of the course when they can and will be failed if they don't make the grade. - Both legs raise. (recruits laughing) You're bein' assessed all the time, okay? And what I'm looking for is
participation and effort, and you listen to me, and you will. The essence of controlled restraint is there's three staff
against one prisoner. That's the essence of it all, but we only use it when we have to. How do we control violent prisoners? What feeling do we use? What's a?
- Pain. - Pain, yes, pain, but do we give out pain all the time? - [Recruits] No. - No, we reduce it. We de-escalate. We're tryin' to calm the
whole situation down. We use pain initially to
control a violent person. And what's our lock of
choice to start with? - [Recruit] An arm lock. - An arm lock, well done. If I can, I'm turning this arm over. It's all of my body
against the prisoner's arm. And to get the pain, I lift
this wrist towards the ceiling. - [Recruit] Submit. - The the other thing to think about is, Jamie, he just had a scrap at me. Then he finishes up on his stomach, three fat blokes lying all over him. What's it becoming even more hard to do? - [Recruits] Breathe. - Breathe. If you can't breathe, what happens to you? You die. You asphyxiate, but no one can spell that. Do we want our prisoners to die? - [Recruits] No. - Very fashionable to
police though, isn't it? Yes, but we try not to make it happen. - When he goes down, his arms down. - [Rob] What have you got to do now? - I grab hold of his
arm, and then lie on it? - [Steve] Good luck, Dan. - Very quick. Quick, quick, quick, quick. Now, what you do, you
want to turn that wrist so your body weight is pinning that arm. (recruits chattering) - Basically, we've got to make sure if they do get through,
they can go into a situation with a person that's armed, may have a table leg, chair leg, maybe flailing it about
trying to kill people. And then we gotta be 100% sure. There's no way we can say,
well, they're sort of okay. - [Instructor] Roll it. That's it. - Now if we're only like 80% sure, then basically I would say right. Let's give 'em some more instructions, more training, and get
'em through that way. - Let's learn the techniques huh, mate. She's workin' hard, and I can't
ask for any more than that. If she was hiding, then I'll be worried. And if I can't teach her the techniques, there's something wrong with me. - [Narrator] Despite her height and apparent lack of fitness, such as Jaya's enthusiasm
to pass the course, she is inadvertently
hurting her classmates. - It's 'cause you're such a strong woman. Feel good about it. (somber music) - [Narrator] After four exhausting days, the final session of control
and restraint arrives. By the end of this day, the trainees will learn whether
it has all been worth it. - The chin guard goes on the chin, yes. - [Narrator] Just to add to the pressure, the governor has decided to drop in and see how they're doing. - We all know that there's gonna be scenarios today and assessments. So, I think we're very anxious. - [Interviewer] How
important is this assessment? What does it actually mean to you? - Well, it means our career.
- Yeah. - I mean, after we've done all this, you know, we could well find ourselves checked out of the course
because we can't do the. We can't control and
restrain the prisoner. We can't put the situation under control. - We stand with the shield. Are we all eyes here and ears? One foot in front of the other there. And we hold the shield at
a 45 degree angle there. (bat banging) And whack. (bat banging) And as they bring it back, I advance. And I advance again. (shield banging) Until such time as I can pin
that prisoner to the wall. - [Recruits] Ready. - [Steve] Advance. Get rid of that weapon. Get rid of that weapon. Get rid of it. Get. Down. Turn. Work. - Lock on.
- Lock on. - Okay, if you know the
prisoner's name, use it. All right, Steve, on your feet. Get up, mate. Get up. Get up. Because callin' the prisoner prisoner. Come on, prisoner. Fuck it out, prisoner. Fuck it out, prisoner. Fuck it out, prisoner. Is that gonna aid the
de-escalation process? - [Recruits] No. - No, but if you know the
prisoner's name, use it. It personalizes it. It helps. Come on, Steve, come on. Just calm down, mate. Jesus Christ, we're off. We don't wanna go in again, yeah? - [Narrator] As the temperature rises, nerves begin to get frayed, but not all the friction is on the mat. Behind the scenes, Jaya
has made a complaint of bullying against another
trainee, Terry Skinner. It is an allegation that
could end his career before it's even started. - It's a tense time for them. You've gotta understand
that this is a pass or fail, and tempers run a bit high sometimes. Sometimes emotions run a little bit high. Mr. Skinner said to me he
felt sick this morning. His tummy was all over the place. So, people react in different
ways to pressure, don't they, but we'll sort it out. Mr. Skinner, come and have a seat. Right. It's come to my attention this morning that Miss Carea is a wee bit upset, and on asking her why
she's a little bit upset, it's come to my attention that you're the person that's upset her. - How come? - A comment made yesterday
about you hurt me today. Do you remember that comment? Right, now, nevermind about for psych. All right. What we can't have in this
dojo and at this crucial time is any conflict amongst
the troops, all right? Miss Carea? Jaya. - Grab a seat, Miss Carea. - [Instructor] Here's one. I've grabbed it. Sit.
- Lovely, right. I've just spoken to Mr.
Skinner about you being upset. I would like you to tell
him what you told us. - Explain to him what he
did to upset you, sweet. He'll listen. - I didn't like you that you said to me that if I hurt you, you would do this. I'm not bitchy. - [Terry] No, I meant youngest. - I'm not surprised at all. - One at a time. - I love my team.
- Yeah. - I will do my best. And what did you say to
me, you won't do your best. You will not hurt me. I haven't got bone in my
body to hurt somebody. - Miss Carea, I'm sorry if I
made it sound the wrong way, but. - [Jaya] I will never hurt anybody, Terry. - Miss Carea, let Terry speak now. - I've apologized. I've apologized. I'm sorry if it came the wrong way. If I raised mine, I don't remember. I'm sorry. - [Instructor] Can you shake hands, give yourself a cuddle, get on with it? - Easy, tigers, easy. - [Instructor] We've got a
busy afternoon to get through. - [Jill] All right, happy, both of you? Are we happy, team? - Yeah. - Off you go then. - Let's get on with it then. Come on. (pounding) - [Prisoner] Come on. - [Steve] Team ready? - [Recruits] Ready. - [Steve] Advance. (bat banging) - [Steve] Get in there, get in there. Get her. She's bloody. - [Narrator] Having learned the basic techniques of
restraining prisoners, the trainees now have to practice them in a nine foot square
cell, in full riot gear. - [Steve] Garrett, get rid of that shield. - [Narrator] This is the final test before they learn whether they
have got through the course. - I fail people essentially
for two reasons. One, they get hold of
their head and go mmm and forget about it 'cause
that's dangerous to the prisoner. Or I'll fire them because
they go, oh, no, I'm gone because that's dangerous to the team. Or unless you're just crap. (recruits laughing) - I should've, I should've
nailed those men. Since you hit me.
- Are we ready? (bat banging) - [Prisoner] Get the officer. Get ready. - [Recruit] Whoa, whoa, whoa. - [Recruit] Flip it away. - [Recruit] No gloves. (recruits chattering) - He got locked. He's got a lock. Get a lock, get a lock, get a lock. Stand him. - Huh? - [Steve] Where's your cuffs? (speaking in a foreign language) Cuff him, Officer. No, not your job at all. One officer, one job. We're not a private sector. (recruits chattering) - [Narrator] Finally, exhausted, the trainees are called in one by one to learn if they have passed or failed. - Mustafa, look at us today, mate, yes? Far better prisoner than a prison officer. (everyone laughing) You enjoyed yourself? - Very much, sir. You made this feel comfortable,
and I appreciate that. - And tonight you can
make me feel comfortable by buying me lots of beer. - [Mustafa] I will do it, sir. - Yeah, okay, I'll see you later. - Is that a pass, sir? - Ah, you passed.
- Yes, of course. - Thank you very much. - [Steve] See you later. Terry.
- Hello. - [Instructor] Hello, Terry, here we go. - You did all right, man, yes. Not as natural as you thought
you might be, I don't think. No, but you saw yourself out here, and I'm confident that you're brave enough to get hold of an arm. And you'll be able to
sort out the arm lock and then be able to
transfer it to farther lock. You'll do fine. Ah, mate, you passed. See you later.
- Well done. - [Jill] All right. (laughing) Well done. Don't feel so sick now? - [Terry] Nope. - [Steve] Oh, you passed,
as you're probably aware 'cause you're a fuckin' big bloke, and I don't, I would be scared to fail ya. Congratulations. - You didn't warn me, didn't you? - [Steve] How do you feel, mate? - Okay. - [Steve] Yes? - All right. - It wasn't easy, was it? - [Jaya] No. - At the start of the
week, were you nervous? - [Jaya] At the start of the
week, I was very nervous. Yeah, yeah. - And your CNR's pretty average, isn't it? The truth is, but you certainly
passed your CNR, Jaya, okay. - [Instructor] Congratulations. - Okay. - [Steve] Go sort your make-up out, and we'll see you on that bus later. - [Jill] How about going
tissues, Miss Carea? (laughing) - I have the rest of it in my car. - [Steve] Yes, well, go put it on then. See you later. - [Narrator] After weeks
of homework and heartache, teamwork and tears, the
trainees have made it. They've all got through. - What did I say? What did I say, huh?
- All the money. - What did I say? (pins cracking) (recruits cheering) (recruits cheering) - [Recruit] Yeah. - [Recruits] Aw. - [Prisoner] (whistling) Yo, I'm innocent. (wind whistling) - Hello, MB from Charlie, many thanks. Permission to move 13 main from house block three to house block two. - [Narrator] Just days after graduating, nine new officers report for duty. In the prison service,
they call it going live. Even the most confident soon realizes that taking sole
responsibility for prisoners creates a different kind of pressure. - I thought officers
had a really easy job. That's not the case. It is not an easy job. I think you need to have
that attitude, what's that? Samaritan, you need to be a Samaritan. You need to want to help
people to do this job. Thank you. Thank you. Some habits I need to get out of. Please and thank you and. - [Narrator] The prison
service is following orders to recruit more officers specifically from ethnic minorities, but the old hands are worried
that negative consequences will follow such positive discrimination. - We've opened the flood
gates by setting targets. They say we must have
a percentage of black, must have a percentage of ethnic minority. And by reaching the targets, we're not lookin' at staff that actually can do the job properly. We're not there to fire them. All we do is give 'em
the tools to do the job. And that's it. - [Jaya] Goodnight, Johnson. - [Narrator] In one of
her first weeks on duty, Jaya has drawn the short straw. She's working on the night shift when the entire prison
population, some 900 men, is guarded by just 16 officers. - Good night. (hatch clicking) Now, I forgot my count. (laughing) - [Narrator] Jaya will
personally be responsible for over 200 prisoners. - The first night was very, very daunting, and it was quite, I was quite
nervous on the first night. The one cellmate started
shouting his mocking because I'm shorter. So I really have to make an effort. That's better. I can see it now. Tuck it in properly. To see everything is okay on the bed. And sometimes when I can't see anything, I have to turn on the nightlight, and that really agitated his cell mates. And he started shouting
his mother and he said, I was the most annoying
night patrol he's ever met. And I said, "Well, I'm sorry." And he said to me, "He'll kill for. "He kills himself." And I said, "Okay, now you've told me. "I will be coming in to
check in every half an hour." And I just did that on that night. Hello, the is Bravo
One, change of identity to Officer Carea. Bravo One, over. - [Interviewer] Has there been a moment when you've questioned your
career decision at all? - No, not at all. Not for one moment at all. I like the job. It's wonderful. It's great. It's nice. Now I forgot my count. - They are care bears, you know. I mean they'll learn, but they are care bears 'cause they're oh, are you all right? You're not well. Do you wanna see a doctor? Do you wanna see the nurse? Do you want me to do this? And then those sort of
15, 18 months go by, and they're like, get in your cell. Close the door. And that's how they become
'cause it does make you cold. But, yeah, that's how it is. There's a dividing line. They're still the Germans
at the end of the day. You know, they are still the enemy. (radio chatter) - [Jaya] That's received. Bravo Six, out. (mellow electronica music)
