Find out what the ASET Guest Bloggers are getting up to. Throughout the year we will be following the progress of the ASET competition winners as they find a placement or keep us updated as to what they are doing on their placement. Click here to read all entries from our bloggers or click here to meet them.

Walking through those gates for the first time was extremely daunting and even now, further along into my placement, I cannot get used to the feeling that I am entering a different world.

In fact I have come to realise that “a different or new world” is exactly what prison is.

The inmates here and in prisons across the country have to make a new life for themselves, a life away from their loved ones, a life squashed into a tiny concrete cell. It may shock people to hear this, but it is difficult to not feel sorry for them and to want to hope that they can turn their lives around.

My time so far in prison has been simultaneously eye opening, thrilling and nerve racking. At first it appeared that I needed to prove myself trustworthy and responsible before being allowed to set foot onto the prison wings.

During this time my workload involved mainly administrative duties such as processing referrals for inmates who wanted to attend a programme the psychology department runs, which improves thinking skills by changing attitudes and thinking through debates, role play and teaching. Other duties involved filing and updating databases, which was interesting as I read about inmates’ unfortunate backgrounds. A project I have recently finished was the annual prisoner survey; collecting and analysing data on prisoners’ views of the running of the prison, healthcare system, treatment by staff and so on.

However after this probationary period I was given more freedom and was escorted around the prison and had lots of contact with inmates, which at first was slightly intimidating but very quickly I became used to stopping and talking to those I recognised as I went about my daily duties. I know already I am going to love my placement.