‘Who’d be a prison officer now?’

Rachael Merriman, 34, is one of 21 graduates on the prison service’s inaugural senior leadership scheme, which is training a new generation of prison governors.

“I had been fast-tracked through the public sector for five years, but there was something missing. I was ambitious, but coasting. I hadn’t considered the prison service before, but the advert hooked me in: ‘If it was easy we wouldn’t need you.’ My mum didn’t like the idea at all, but when I explained the two-year scheme trained me for leadership, and focused on the rehabilitative element of the justice system, she came around. Starting salaries range from £45,000 to £52,000.

“For my initial training, I have been in prisons alongside officers, dealing with prisoners face-to-face. I was fully aware of its problems coming in – substance misuse, self-harm, suicide – but in terms of being scared, prisons are just an amplified version of society. I didn’t see anything the officers weren’t equipped to deal with.

“The prison service is in the middle of a perfect storm after a period of austerity, but the Government promised 2,500 new officers by the end of the year and they’re already at 3,000.

“The service is invisible compared to the NHS and police, but when you see the work it does, there’s no reason it shouldn’t attract professional talent.”