6533b838fe1ef96bd12a5041

RESEARCH PRODUCT

Guarding, guiding, gate opening: Prison officer work in a Norwegian welfare context

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description

Anne A is a prison officer, and for years, she has been working behind the walls—in low-security and high-security wings, with remand and sentenced prisoners. She says: We are there fifty per cent in order to keep an eye on them, to ensure that they stay here [in prison]. The other fifty per cent we are trying to help them. They may be drug users or have other problems, and it’s just as much our duty to help them as to watch them. And when we help, this contributes to security just as much as a locked door or an alarm.