Prison staff 'begging for help' as mental health sick days rise

The total number of staff taking at least one day off for mental health reasons across England's prisons rose from 3,535 in 2019 to 5,478 in 2024

Prison staff in England are increasingly missing work due to poor mental health, exclusive data shows. Officers say a lack of support, regular traumatic incidents and violence are factors behind the rise.

"In my final weeks, it was very common to come in and see one of your colleagues' names crossed off the rota because they had got to a point where working one more minute at the prison was just mentally impossible."

Until last month, Sophie, 22, was a prison officer at HMP Guys Marsh in Dorset. It was a job she had once "loved".

"When you saw the prisoners making progress, it was just incredible," she said. "But I had to leave because the prison never supported staff through the hard times."

While working at Guys Marsh, Sophie needed hospital psychiatric care. She said her job had been the principal factor in the decline in her mental health.

"Dealing with constant and disgusting levels of self-harm and assaults with no real support meant I just couldn't do it anymore," she said. "I begged for help but got nothing."

A Ministry for Justice spokesperson said the government had "inherited a prison system in crisis".

They added the government was tackling "unacceptable" levels of violence, self-harm and assaults through additional prison places and sentencing reforms "so our jails create better citizens, not better criminals".

England's prisons lost almost 150,000 working days because of mental ill-health last year, up 44% since 2019.

Guys Marsh, where Sophie worked, had the highest proportion of prison officers taking at least one day off for mental health reasons last year.

Steve Robertson, Guys Marsh's deputy governor from 2017 to 2020, said the prison's issues were not surprising.

He said: "I began working in the prison service in 1990 after being in the army. I had never, ever felt any challenges to my own personal mental health.

"When I went to Guys Marsh, which was known as the most violent in the country, then it all absolutely changed."

After a period of being signed off for his poor mental health, Steve was medically retired on mental health grounds.

When his retirement came, he felt he received "zero recognition" for more than three decades of "blood, sweat and tears" to improve the prison.

"I thought I might get a clock or even just a cake with some colleagues, but the debriefing meeting lasted seven minutes and I got nothing," he said.

"I was already in a dark place, but I'm not too proud to say that I could not stop crying in the meeting."

A 2025 report from HM Inspectorate of Prisons noted Guys Marsh had high rates of staff absence and worsening violence, with the prison "more violent than most similar establishments".

Steve Robertson, Guys Marsh's former deputy governor, said his mental health had improved after leaving the prison service

Steve said the number of staff taking mental health leave had been a challenge during the late-2010s.

He said: "I had lots of staff, you know, going off sick. Do you know what? I didn't blame them."

Since he left the prison in 2020, the percentage of its total staff taking at least one mental health sickness day a year doubled from 15% to 34% last year.

Serving officer Emma (not her real name) works at Morton Hall in Lincolnshire, where 12% of staff took a day off for poor mental health last year. She believes a lack of mental health support impacts staffing.

"We have two officers for 80 to 90 men. They are often very young with no training dealing with traumatic incidents and assaults," she said.

"When I started it was a great career, but over the past five years the job has changed dramatically - and it has broken me mentally."

Across the prison and probation service in England and Wales, 41% of all sick days in the 12 months to September this year were on account of mental health, official data shows.

Emma has been on sick leave for her mental health for the past few months. She said her symptoms remained severe, but she was returning to work as she could not afford to stay on half pay.

She said: "I've cried out for help for a year at work but any meaningful support has only happened because I have sorted it out off my own back.

"I am not fit to work in a prison in my current state but I have no choice."

Tallulah (not her real name) left the prison service in 2022. Her workplace, HMP Swaleside in Kent, had the ninth highest proportion of staff taking a mental health sickness day that year.

"I was 20 years old and I had almost lost a family member to suicide," she said.

"I asked for time off the next day to visit them in hospital but was refused as the prison was short-staffed."

She said she had asked to be put on administrative duties as the first response team was "often attending to self-harm", but her request had been refused.

"Within a few hours I was alone, dealing with a suicide attempt and I completely broke down," she said. "I still had to work the rest of my shift."

'Investing in safety'

All prison officers have access to mental health support including a 24-hour helpline, according to the Ministry of Justice.

A spokesperson added: "We're also investing around £15m to improve their safety, including expanding the use of tasers and rolling out more protective body armour."

Tallulah said she had been given a number to call for mental health support. After answering a few questions, she was told the team would be in touch.

She said she had not heard from them until she was two months into a new job.

"I was always mentally really strong until I was in the service," she said.

"It's such a shame as I loved working with the prisoners and was excited about a career there."

The Prison Officer's Association said it had "consistently" called on the service to fund specialised on-site mental health support.

Mark Fairhurst, its national chair, said relying on peer support would "not assist staff who deal with homicides, suicides, self-harm and bullying".

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