The experience of stress, coping and support for prison officer negotiators in His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service
| Date | 08 August 2024 |
| Pages | 52-67 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JFP-12-2023-0070 |
| Published date | 08 August 2024 |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care,Criminology & forensic psychology,Forensic practice,Sociology,Sociology of crime & law,Law enforcement/correctional,Public policy & environmental management,Policing,Criminal justice |
| Author | Catharine Charlotte Booth,Zoe Stephenson |
The experience of stress, coping and
support for prison officer negotiators in His
Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service
Catharine Charlotte Booth and Zoe Stephenson
Abstract
Purpose –Negotiation is an established strategy used by the police and His Majesty’s Prison and
Probation Service to manage serious incidents. Whilst the literature acknowledges the role of the
negotiatorto be stressful, little is known about the experienceof stress and the coping strategiesused by
negotiators when undertaking this role. This is particuarly true for negotiators who work in prisons. As
such, thepurpose of this study was to explore theexperience of negotiators workingin a prison setting.
Design/methodology/approach –The study adopted a qualitative methodology. Semi-structured
interviews were conductedwith 14 prison officer negotiators based in publicsector prisons in the North
West of England.The data were analysed using thematic analysis.
Findings –Four overarchingthemes were identified relating to stressors;the experience of stress; use of
coping strategies; and use of support.An underlying theme was identified relating to negotiating within
the structureof a prison regime.
Practical implications –People involvedin the management of serious incidentsshould be familiar with
the negotiator role. Debriefingnegotiators after a lone deployment and offeringsupport to negotiators in
the days followingan incident is critical for staff well-being.Further, record keeping from the perspective
of the negotiatorshould become formalised.
Originality/value –This paper contributes new insightsinto the management of serious incidents and
the negotiatorexperience in prisons in England andWales.
Keywords Coping, Negotiation, Stress, Prison, Corrections, Support, Incident, Hostage, Negotiator,
Prison officer
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Prison officers deal with seriousincidents every day. Recent government statistics revealed
that there were 13,788 prisoner-on-prisoner assaults and 7,356 assaults on staff in the 12-
month period to September 2022 (Ministry of Justice, 2023). During the same 12-month
period, there were 54,761 reported incidents of self-harm. Whilst every one of those
incidents could be described as serious, the current paper will focus on serious incidents
which require the deployment of a specialist-trained team(s) of staff to bring about a
resolution. In His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS), these incidents typically
include riots, barricades, incidentsat height, hostage situations and concerted indiscipline.
The managementof serious incidents in His Majesty’s Prison andProbation Service
During a serious incident, the most senior ranking governor in the establishment will normally
assume the role of Silver Commander (College of Policing, 2013). Whilst the Silver Commander
has a number of specialist trained teams of prison officers who can physically intervene to
Catharine Charlotte Booth
is based at the North West
Psychology Service, His
Majesty’s Prison and
Probation Service,
Manchester, UK.
Zoe Stephenson is based
at the Department of
Psychology, University of
Birmingham, Birmingham,
UK.
Received 5 December 2023
Revised 30 March 2024
Accepted 1 July 2024
Research funding: This
research was conducted as
part of the lead researcher’s
doctoral studies, funded by His
Majesty’s Prison and Probation
Service.
PAGE 52 jTHE JOURNAL OF FORENSIC PRACTICE jVOL. 27 NO. 1 2025, pp. 52-67, ©EmeraldPublishing Limited, ISSN 2050-8794 DOI 10.1108/JFP-12-2023-0070
resolve an incident, the preferred method is to achieve a peaceful resolution through
negotiation. Negotiators in HMPPS are prison officers who have completed additional training to
perform this specialist role. Similar to police negotiators (Grubb, 2016;Spence and Millott,
2016), this is a voluntary role, undertaken in addition to their day-to-day prison officer duties.
Experience of negotiators
Stress. According to Lazarus and Folkman (1984, p. 19), stress is “any situation in which internal
demands, external demands, or both, are appraised as taxing or exceeding the adaptive or
coping resources of an individual or group”. Stressors have been defined as “environmental
demands encountered by an individual” (Lazarus, 1999, p. 329). Lazarus and Folkman’s (1984)
transactional model of stress is now well-established in the stress literature. The model
conceptualises stress as encompassing a stressor, the individual’s appraisal of it, coping and
the emotional response. Lazarus and Folkman (1984) consider that the way one appraises an
event influences the number and type of coping responses an individual will use. Specifically, if
the event is perceived as a threat or a challenge, and how controllable it is perceived to be.
Developments in stress and coping research found the presence of positive emotion in the
stress process (e.g. Bonanno and Keltner, 1997;Folkman, 1997;Folkman and Moskowitz,
2000). Following this development, Folkman and Moskowitz (2000,2004) updated Lazarus
and Folkman’s (1984) model to illustratethat both positive and negative stress can co-occur
in the same incident. In the context of occupational stress and burnout, Maslach and
Jackson’s (1981) multidimensional theory conceptualises burnout as incorporating three
elements: emotional exhaustion; depersonalisation (an excessive detachment from others);
and feelings of reduced personal accomplishment. When stress is not well-managed,
burnout is a risk for employees. Understanding stressors related to the workplace and one’s
ability to cope with workplacestress is therefore worthy of attention by researchers.
The extant literature pertaining to negotiator stress is largely theoretical and anecdotal in
nature. These narrative reviews unequivocally consider the experience of stress to be
negative; however, the empirical literature presents a more colourful picture that stress is
experienced on a continuum from negative/harmful stress through to it being a positive
experience (e.g. Grubb, 2016;Sachs, 1996). These findings align with the model of stress
proposed by Folkman and Moskowitz(2000,2004), previously outlined.
The empirical literature has identified negative stressors as being related to role ambiguity
because of the negotiator role being at odds with thei r police officer role (Grubb, 2016); unmet
physical needs (Sachs, 1996); thoughts of criticism, scrutiny and inquiry into their performance
(Sachs, 1996;Spence and Millott, 2016); interference in negotiations f rom untrained
colleagues (Grubb, 2016;Sachs, 1996;Spence and Millott, 2016); poor scene management
(Grubb, 2016) and negotiating alone (Grubb, 2016). Some have described their experie nce of
stress as “different”, but no more stressful than their day-to-day role (Grubb, 2016;Spence
and Millott, 2016). Stress has also been perceived as a positive experience whereby th e
situation is viewed as a challenge rather than a problem (Grubb, 2016 ).
Given the potential for stress to have a negative impact on performance (Iskamto, 2021),
understanding the sources and experience of stress for negotiators is essential. The
importance is related not only to ensuring they can perform at the highest level but also for
long-term physical and psychological health (Leviton,2004;Rosenbluh, 2001).
Coping. According to Lazarus and Folkman (1984), coping strategies can be seen as the
cognitive and behavioural efforts an individual employs to manage, tolerate or reduce a
stressor. Their model categorises coping strategies in terms of problem- versus emotion-
focused coping (Lazarus and Folkman, 1984). Here, problem-focused coping refers to
managing or altering the problem that is causing distress (task-oriented), while emotion-
focused coping refers to managing one’s emotional response to the situation. Originating
from research with prison staff, examining how to protect their psychological health,
VOL. 27 NO. 1 2025 jTHEJOURNAL OF FORENSIC PRACTICE jPAGE 53
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