
Prisons in the UK are recruiting prison officers from Nigeria correctional services. This is in an effort to fill existing shortages in their system. Reports indicate that some of those recruited have been sleeping rough in circumstances likened to gypsy accommodations.
UK prison system 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 bosses say many of the recruits are from Nigeria and include not only skilled workers but also some switching from other visa entry routes.
Prison Officers Association (POA) reported cases of Nigerian recruits resuming with a notion up that they would be given accommodation along with their job.
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.
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.
Official reports show 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.
