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REVEALED: Alex south - The Real Truth

Violence is part and parcel of how prisons function

Letter: Jessica Pandian of Inquest says homicides within prisons are not individual acts but reveal how violence operates at an institutional level

The Guardian - UK · Feb 5

The inside track on curbing UK prison violence

Letters: Readers respond to an article by a former prison officer on how the system perpetuates violence and share their own stories

The Guardian - UK · Jan 19

Stun guns won’t bring an end to violence in prisons

Letters: Readers respond to an article by former prison officer Alex South, in which she says the weapons might keep staff and inmates safe

The Guardian - UK · Apr 27, 2025

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I hate the idea of British prison officers carrying stun guns – but it may be our only option

There’s little chance of rehabilitation in the UK’s dangerously depleted prison system. These weapons might at least keep staff and inmates safe, says former prison officer Alex South

The Guardian - UK · Apr 22, 2025

What a window cage taught me about prisons – and how good design can help both staff and inmates

Without cages, drones fly in drugs and weapons. And there are other ways to make these buildings safer and more humane, says former prison officer Alex South

The Guardian - UK · Jan 15, 2025

As an ex-prison officer, I know how to make space: let out drug offenders and low-level gang members

Labour’s Operation Early Dawn will address overcrowding, but the problems that cause it need equal attention, says former prison officer Alex South

The Guardian - UK · Aug 20, 2024

As an ex-prison officer, here’s what I think about the Wandsworth jail sex video scandal

The film of an officer allegedly having sex with an inmate in a cell has gone viral. I worry that cuts create conditions in which corruption can flourish, writes former prison officer Alex South

The Guardian - UK · Jul 4, 2024

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If you think jails are too soft and full of hardened criminals, read this and think again

Plans for more community sentences in England and Wales are wise, those who oppose them foolish. The reality of prison life is truly awful, says author and former prison officer Alex South

The Guardian - UK · Jan 1, 2024

‘I’ve watched people just fall apart’: inside the nightmare world of English and Welsh jails

Former prison officer Alex South tells how cuts in funding have allowed assault, suicide and self-harm to become the norm• Three-quarters of prisons in England and Wales in appalling conditions

The Guardian - UK · Aug 5, 2023

Summer books: the hottest novels to bring you holiday bliss, whatever the weather

Whether you fancy a politicised love story, a look into the lives of the super-rich or the fictional autobiography of a medieval mystic, Alex Peake-Tomkinson has the coolest must-reads to distract — whatever the extreme weather

Evening Standard · Aug 4, 2023

I started work as a prison officer full of optimism, but in a rat-infested jail I saw the ugly, violent reality

Cuts and staff attrition made the job stagnant and stressful, and the toll became too heavy, says author Alex South

The Guardian - UK · Jul 10, 2023

Behind These Doors by Alex South review – the valuable insights of a female prison officer

This vivid, unsentimental account of South’s life as a prison guard is a powerful reminder of the need to rehabilitate our jails

The Guardian - UK · Jul 4, 2023

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