The United Kingdom’s prison service has started recruiting prison officers from Nigeria and other countries to address staffing shortages.
However, many of these new recruits, including Nigerians, are facing accommodation difficulties, with some resorting to sleeping in their cars or camping near prisons to save on housing costs, according to a report by The Telegraph on Thursday.
This is the first time the UK prison service is sponsoring skilled worker visas for international recruits, following a rule change in 2023 that added prison officers to the list of eligible professions.
Many of the new recruits are Nigerians, including some who transitioned from other visa routes to the prison service.
The Prison Officers Association (POA) has reported cases of Nigerian recruits arriving at UK prisons under the assumption that accommodation would be provided.
Mark Fairhurst, the president of the POA, shared an example of a recruit who commuted 70 miles daily from Huddersfield to Nottingham, eventually deciding it was cheaper to sleep in his car outside the prison.
At another location, some officers set up a camp in a wooded area near the prison after learning they would need to arrange their own housing.
“We have got problems with people who turn up at the gates with cases in tow and with their families saying to the staff: ‘Where is the accommodation?’,” Fairhurst stated.
Sources from the Ministry of Justice in the UK indicate that approximately 250 foreign nationals have been recruited into the UK prison service after Zoom interviews and vetting.
In 2023, a significant portion of the 3,500 monthly applicants were from Africa.
Tom Wheatley, the president of the Prison Governors Association, attributed the influx to word-of-mouth promotion by Nigerians already working in the UK.
“It’s turned into an approach that has been promoted online by the expat Nigerian community,” Wheatley noted.
However, he acknowledged challenges, including language barriers and the difficulty of integrating foreign recruits into rural communities.
Despite these challenges, the UK prison service insists its recruitment and training processes are thorough.
A spokesperson for the Prison Service told The Telegraph, “all staff – regardless of nationality – undergo robust assessments and training before they work in prisons. Our strengthened vetting process roots out those who fall below our high standards.”
The reliance on virtual interviews has also raised concerns, with some questioning the suitability of officers recruited this way.
Fairhurst has called on the prison service to return to face-to-face interviews, stating that six weeks of training is insufficient for recruits to manage prisoners effectively.