Personal Account
| Date | 01 March 1989 |
| DOI | 10.1177/026455058903600120 |
| Author | Russell Webster |
| Published date | 01 March 1989 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
44
PERSONAL
ACCOUNT
Ag
Recently
I’ve
started
showing
prisoners
their
probation
files
on
a
regular
basis.
Nothing
startling
in
this,
of
course.
I’ve
always
done
this
routinely
at
the
office
and
have
become
inured
to
the
feelings
of
disappointment
and
disillusion
when
this
heartfelt
offer
of
openness
and
can-
dour
is
met
with
an
expression
of
slight-
ly
baffled
disinterest.
However,
imprisonment
creates
new
interests.
Introspection
is
one,
reading
another.
I’ve
never
been
turned
down
yet
although
people’s
reactions
vary
widely.
Anxiety -
will
the
parole
board
see
these? -
through
chuckles
of
reminiscence
at
forgotten
offences
and
successes
in
fleecing
money
out
of
probation
officers,
on
to
bitter
laughter
and
downright
anger
at
errors
of
fact
and judgement.
Part
C
entries
written
in
temper
and
bile
are
more
common
than
we’d
like
to
admit.
Perhaps
the
most
interesting
reaction
I’ve
come
across
was
total
absorption;
I
was
ignored
as
a
3&dquo;
thick
file
was
methodically
dissected
from
stats
form
to
10
year
old
social
services
report.
Thus
far
no-one
has
turned
violent
even
when
the
hasty
in-
accurate
value
judgements
were
from
my
own
pen;
no-one
has
confettied
the
file
or
attempted
to
make
me
literally
eat
my
words.
Looking
back,
I
can
see
that
when
I
first
started
doing
this
I
was
more
apprehensive
than
I
would
have
liked
to
admit.
I
realise
now
that
my
tedious
lengthy
explanations
of the
different
sections,
my
constant
pulling
back
of
the
file
to
point
out
something
of
in-
terest
stemmed
from
an
anxiety
to
be
in
control.
Now,
I
let
clients
set
their
own
pace
and
ask
what
and
when
they
want.
What
started
as
a
bolt-hole
from
boredom
(for
clients
as
well
as
me)
has
now
become
a
regular
habit
(practice
is
too
grand
a
word).
Many
benefits
de-
rive ;
discussion
of
patterns
and
themes
becomes
easier
and
is
often
inspired
by
the
client.
However,
perhaps
the
most
stimu-
lating
part
for
me
is
the
constant
de-
mand
to
explain
and
justify -
not
just
individual
comments
but
the
whole
pre-
mise
and
function
of
recording.
As
my
mood
swings
from
pompously
ex-
pounding
the
precise
importance
of
each
official
form
to
cynical
condemna-
tion
of
all
government
clerkdom,
I
sometimes
glimpse
insights
into
the
fundamental
tension
of
the
job:
be-
tween
contact
with
people
and
bureaucratic
form
filling.
(I
also
see
my
part
in
the
process
whereby
it
is
only
the
brighter,
favourite
clients
who
take
up
my
offers
of
file
reading
in
the
office.)
The
desire
for
unpredictable,
stimu-
lating
human
contact
underlies
many
of
our
motivations
to
do
probation
work.
It
rattles
me
when
I
realise
that
I
some-
times
feel
most
satisfied
and
op
top
of
the
job
when
I’ve
just
spent
an
unhar-
rassed
morning
devoted
solely
to
the
completion
of
reports
and
the
up-dating
of records.
At
least
now
there
is
a
future
purpose
to
the
hours
spent
in
this
way.
Discussion
with
a
truly
interested
party
is
always
likely
to
be
more
stimulating
than
with
an
inspecting
ACPO.
Russell
Webster
Probation
Officer,
Tottenham
To continue reading
Request your trial