In early 1973 I came across a newspaper advertisement inviting applications for appointment as Assistant Governor in the Scottish Prison Service. The job description caught my attention since it seemed to hold out the prospect of a career which might prove satisfying and worthwhile with the added attraction of moving into a completely new world which I suspected might challenge me on a number of fronts. (Little did I then know how true that was to be.) My application was successful and in September 1973 I reported to the Prison Service Staff Training College in Wakefield, West Yorkshire to begin training as an assistant prison governor. The subsequent stages of my prison service career in Scotland can be briefly listed:

• • 1973 Assistant Governor in Edinburgh Prison

• • 1976 Assistant Governor in Polmont Borstal

• • 1978 Deputy Governor of the newly opened Shotts Prison

• • 1981 Scottish Prison Service headquarters, responsible for security and staffing matters

• • 1986 Governor of Greenock Prison

• • 1988 Governor of Peterhead Prison

• • 1990 Governor of Shotts Prison

In 1991 I transferred to HM Prison Service England and Wales, where I had been asked to take over as Governor of Brixton Prison and where I remained until March 1997 when I moved to the University of London.

In an earlier publication I wrote in some detail about a number of my experiences as a prison governor (Coyle, 1994). For present purposes I will limit myself to some reflections on several of the key periods of my time as Governor of Peterhead and Brixton Prisons which undoubtedly influenced my approach to my subsequent academic and international work as described in later chapters.

Peterhead

My first appointment in charge of a prison came in mid-1986 at Greenock in the west of Scotland where the prison held convicted men serving long sentences. I suspect that there are many similarities between a prison governor and the captain of a ship. The sea captain has to operate within broad parameters which have been set at a higher level but once the ship sets sail the captain has overall responsibility for everything that happens on board, and all other members of the ship's company are responsible to him or her. I remember my first morning at Greenock when all the senior staff sat in the boardroom for the traditional daily briefing. Someone raised an issue which needed a decision.