Laura Kennedy, Prison Officer

Laura was twenty-two years old, and saving for a trip to Australia when she saw a job advertised for prison officers. With a head full of dreadlocks, she never thought she’d be successful. Laura was shocked when she was accepted. Her job involves dealing with many different types of people, services and sectors: the Gardai, the Courts, Probation and Welfare services. Dealing with so many different personalities on a daily basis can be challenging, but it’s also what makes the job interesting.

The early 19th century English penal reformer, Elizabeth Fry, argued that male and female prisoners should be kept in separate quarters, and that female prisoners should have female wardens. She influenced the establishment of Grangegorman penitentiary for women in Dublin in 1836, the first prison for female inmates in the British Isles and the first to have female wardens. Initially women wardens only served in female prisons, but nowadays women can now supervise both male and female inmates.

“We are only human and I try to treat people as I would like to be treated”, says Laura Kennedy. Prison officer remains a minority profession for women – in Ireland just one in ten prison officers is female. That’s something the Irish Prison Service is trying to address – February 2018 saw the launch of a large-scale recruitment drive for more women and ethnic minorities.