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UK prisons recruit officers from Nigeria in move which sees some sleeping rough - THE TELEGRAPH UK
Struggling prison service is for the first time sponsoring skilled worker visas for overseas workers
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Jails are recruiting prison officers from Nigeria and other countries to plug shortages in a move that has seen some camping or sleeping in their cars to save on accommodation.
The prison service is for the first time sponsoring skilled worker visas for overseas workers after a change in the rules enabled them to recruit from abroad.
Prison governors say many of them have come from Nigeria and include not only skilled workers but also some switching from other visa routes.
The Prison Officers Association (POA) has reported cases of overseas recruits turning up on their first day assuming they would be given accommodation along with their job.
Mark Fairhurst, the president of the POA, said one foreign recruit was commuting the 70 miles from Huddersfield to Nottingham for work but then decided it was cheaper to sleep in his car outside the prison.
He said that at another jail, foreign-recruited prison officers had set up a camp in a wooded area opposite the prison where they were working after discovering that there was no accommodation provided with the job.
“We have got problems with people who turn up at the gates with cases in tow and with their families saying to the staff: ‘Where is the accommodation?’,” said Mr Fairhurst.
Their recruitment follows a change in the visa rules in October 2023 that included prison officers on the list of skilled workers eligible for sponsorship.
Ministry of Justice (MoJ) sources suggested that up to 250 foreign nationals have so far been sponsored to work in the prison service after passing through their Zoom interviews and vetting.
Prison governors believe there are significantly more applicants which include those switching from other visas. They claimed that in one month last year two-thirds of the 3,500 would-be recruits were from Africa.
Tom Wheatley, the president of the Prison Governors Association (PGA), said the demand appeared to have been fuelled by word of mouth online.
“It’s turned into an approach that has been promoted online by the expat Nigerian community,” he said.
