Role Exit in Prison Officers: Returning to ’Civvy Street’

Role Exit Within Prison Officers: Returning to ’Civvy Street’ explores the reasons why prison officers leave His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) England and Wales and examines the processes and trajectories involved in returning back to civilian life, which is referred to as ’civvy street’.

Sarah Nixon is a Senior Lecturer in Criminology at the University of Winchester, UK. Her research interests include desistance and peer support programmes within prison and community settings, the impact of desistance education on the working practices of prison officers, and autoethnographic research around being a gay female prison officer and experiences with suicide/self-harm and trauma. Sarah previously worked as a prison officer for six years at a category ’B’ adult male prison in England and is a member of the Prison Research Network and the Pracademic Network in conjunction with De Montfort University.

Darren Woodward is a Senior Lecturer in Criminology at Arden University, UK. His research explores desistance from crime, prisons and the experiences of people involved in criminal justice. Before entering teaching and academia, Darren spent 17 years as a prison officer, working at two large prisons in England in various capacities, including landing officer, offender supervisor, and offending behaviour facilitator. Darren is also a member of the Pracademic Network in conjunction with De Montford University.