A PRISON officer at HMP Berwyn has encouraged others to consider trying the role.

It was confirmed by the prison's governor Nick Leader when we visited the establishment this month that there are more than 100 job vacancies at present - the majority of which are prison officer posts.

Officer James Smalley, who joined the prison in 2016, gave some insight into the daily challenges of the job and how Berwyn itself has changed and evolved since opening.

"We started off with just one house block - Bala," he explained, "and one wing, then expanding to four.

"We waited for a little while to make sure everyone knew what they were doing - then slowly expanded to 1,000, then 1,400. Now we're close to 2,000."

Over that time, Officer Smalley explained, the way the prison organises its men's time out of their cells has changed.

"When we first opened and had plenty of staff," he said, "the prisoners would be out for a lot of the day and it was sometimes too much.

"A lot of them would say 'can you put me behind my door' - which is very rare these days.

"We've got it back to basics now. There used to be a 7pm roll (call) and a lot of evening activities.

"There would be tons of association - 80 men out at the same time, all mooching around, but now it's a lot more safe and secure.

"We maybe do the first floor for an hour, then the second floor.

"So even though staffing has gone down, I'd say safety has gone up."

Explaining why he wanted to become a prison officer in the first place, Officer Smalley said: "I was about 25 and working in a bank. 

"I had a good job, but I'll be honest - I'd come home and my wife would say what have you done today? I'd say - the usual..

"Eventually she said go and do something you want to do.

"I wanted something where no day was the same, where I could come in and have people next to me and make a good go of it."

He encouraged people to consider applying for jobs in the prison, adding: "It's the camaraderie for me - and the pay has recently gone up which is obviously nice.

"It's an emergency service, and there's nothing the police do that we don't do as well.

"The bad days are bad, but 95 per cent of the time it's absolutely fine.

"It's not all sunshine and rainbows - jail's never going to be like that.

"But I really rarely go home having had a bad day."