Banged Up, Stitched Up; The untold stories of a prison nurse

is a collection of my experiences of men coping with being incarcerated in one of the UK’s most overcrowded and dangerous prisons.Having been an emergency response nurse in a large, overcrowded, chaotic men’s prison for nearly seven years, I am in a unique position to see how men cope with being imprisoned and the lengths they will go to retain just a modicum of control of their lives. Realising this privileged position early on, I kept a diary of all the crazy, dangerous and sometimes funny interactions with this hidden community.

As nurses in the prison environment, our job is to look after the prisoners’ medical needs; we are an anomaly in the prison system, as we are not their gaolers so we often see a different side to them than the prison officers, who tend to see their aggressive, combative, macho side whereas we often will see their vulnerable self. We are also their advocates in all restraint situations to make sure that the restraints are legal and do not compromise their airways.

However, we must work within the strict prison regime, and it is always prison first, healthcare second, which can be…tricky. If for whatever reason the prison, or wing, is in lockdown, healthcare gets shut down too and, unless it’s an emergency, we do not get access to the prisoners. This can take the form of clinics being cancelled or medications not being given.

None of the stories in Banged Up, Stitched Up have been embellished, there has been no need to. I talk of prisoner-on-prisoner assaults, behaviours of those who don’t get their way, those who do, drug and hooch overdoses, the impact that loneliness, isolation and boredom have. The chaos during a resuscitation following a hanging, cardiac arrest, or overdose can be daunting, as can dealing with the adrenaline-filled prisoner who has been stabbed or ‘jugged’ with boiling water. I have been threatened, sexually assaulted, spat at and verbally abused. So why do I do this?

Realising early in my nursing degree that hospital nursing held no interest for me, I started to look at other avenues to work in, I needed something a little edgier. I saw an article in a nursing journal about prison nursing and I knew instantly and instinctively that this is where I wanted to work. I immediately emailed the matron at the prison and, a week after reading the article, I had secured myself a job as a nurse, I just needed to graduate.

I believe strongly that everyone, regardless of background, colour or creed, should have access to excellent healthcare and prisoners are no exception. At times nursing this population can be challenging and can test our professional boundaries but, on the whole, it is as interesting as it is rewarding.

Having moved to Ireland with my family from London, I grew up just outside of Dublin in the ‘70s and ‘80s, where being perceived as English was not so popular in the Emerald Isle. This along with having dysfunctional, alcoholic parents, I understand being ‘othered’ and the trauma that this can bring to a young mind. Maybe that’s what attracts me to the hidden and forgotten prison community. Having dealt with my own journey in alcoholism and drug abuse, through recovery, I have incorporated my experiences with my nursing knowledge to be able to be an open, non-judgemental nurse practitioner.

I wrote ‘Banged Up, Stitched Up’ to show that being in prison is not the TikTok party many think it is. Despite the prison regime, the healthcare provided is excellent, and I’m surprised that more people don’t come to prison for the ease of seeing a nurse or a doctor or to get their teeth seen by a dentist. Yet, as nurses, we work long hours in a hostile environment. The hypervigilance required to work there, where you are risk-assessing every step you take, every landing you walk on, and watching who is around you is truly exhausting and should never be taken for granted. The minute you let your guard down, you become vulnerable. Fortunately, my line managers and the teamwork I work within are supportive and encourage us to be the best nurses we can be.

I do not seek to take pot-shot at the prison service. We all know the system is crumbling and this needs to be addressed at grass-roots level by the government, but the hard-working prison officers I work with deserve much more credit than they ever get.  Until the current system changes, we nurses will continue to care, advocate and patch the prisoners up sending them back into the warzone like community they live in.