Strangeways: A Prison Officer's Story
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Average rating3.8
This Sunday Times bestseller is a shocking and at times darkly funny account of life as a prison officer in one of the country's most notorious jails. Neil Samworth's Strangeways reveals the stark reality behind HMP Manchester's notorious prison walls with an astonishing blend of audacity, humour, and empathy. A seasoned prison officer, Samworth weaves a gripping tale of endurance, underscoring the finesse necessary to navigate a world awash with formidable criminals and the tragically misunderstood. From tense face-offs with hardened gangsters and psychopaths to encounters with cell fires and rampant drug problems, Samworth opens a window into Britain's penal system. It's an intrepid journey that unearths the human stories behind the inmate numbers and uncovers the systemic cracks leading to escalating prison crises. At its heart, Strangeways is Samworth's deeply personal narrative. He reveals his own mental battles while confronting the scars left by a grueling career on the frontlines of the prison system, and his ultimate struggle with PTSD. More than a memoir, this account is a testament to those braving one of society's harshest arenas, and a chilling expose of humanity's darker places.
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While this book didn't have a structured narrative and lacked focus, it provides a rather interesting and transparent viewpoint of the UK's current prison service. It raises some really relevant issues surrounding the faults within our current prison system. This book also contacts some harrowing incidents and I applaud Samworth for his openness and honesty in expressing his psychological demise while working as a prison officer which lead him to leave the profession due to being diagnosed with PTSD. This book however lacked a wider point of focus and I found the end chapter a rather idealised and oversimplified proposal of an improvement for the prison service issues. This book is clearly not written by an author but it provides a reader with an invaluable and authentic fly on the wall expose of the current prison system and allows the British public to be privy to the way in which the prison service is being let down by the lack of training, poor recruitment drives and not providing P.O's with the mental support they need while on the job. A valuable and informative read but without the academic and thought out craftsmanship of a journalist/ academic/ non-fiction author.
