'When the school bell goes, it's fight or flight' - the PTSD faced by NI's prison guards

Key developments are emerging from the global stage. 'When the school bell goes, it's fight or flight' - the PTSD faced by NI's prison guards3 hours ago Share Save Add as preferred on GoogleAmy StewartandJudith Cummings , News NIGetty/BBCFor Rebecca, something as innocuous as the school run can be fraught with anxiety. The sound of the school bell, she says, "automatically sends me into fight or flight". The bell at her young children's school is the same as the alarm in the prison where she was physically and verbally attacked as part of an 11-year career as a guard.

She has since been diagnosed with complex PTSD. "I'll flinch, I'll go to run. In my job when that alarm is hit.

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I'm not running away from the danger, I'm running to the danger. It's completely exhausting. "Rebecca, which is not her real name, is one of two former prison guards who spoke to Radio Ulster's Talkback programme about the long-term issues caused by the job, and how they feel there's been a lack of support from prison management.

She and fellow former prison guard Simon - also not his real name - described dealing with drugs, paramilitary prisoners and some of Northern Ireland's most dangerous criminals. Simon, who medically retired in 2013, started his career in the now closed Maze prison in 1988. At that time Northern Ireland prisons, and in particularly the Maze with its H-block wing, were synonymous for housing paramilitary prisoners from the height of the Troubles, the conflict in Northern Ireland which raged across the 1970s, 80s and 90s.

Before starting the job, Simon said he did "not know what I was going into" but found a career of "drug-filled prisons, jail and bays run by terrorists and prisoners". 'Constantly a fight'That threat of violence is something Simon carried with him outside the prison, as he said he was followed by dissident republicans in Belfast city centre. "It was constantly a fight.

What Experts Say

You were being attacked, constant threats of violence, drug-taking and loyalist and republican prisoners just doing what they wanted to do and the government not really caring with no support. "The Department of Justice said that claims about prisons being awash with drugs, staff safety being ignored or management not caring about staff wellbeing "are simply not borne out by evidence". "We will always acknowledge the challenges of prison work - but we will also continue to stand firmly behind our staff, the safeguards in place, and the professionalism with which they carry out their duties," it added.

'I have seen evil face to face'Simon said he had "seen evil" in his job and that it was "like working with the devil face to face". Now, he lives with triggers, which include flashbacks. He said the previous night he felt that he was back fighting in a prison block.

"When I wake up in the morning, I've pounding headaches, stomach cramps all the time. "The former prison guard, who is divorced, said life can be "very dark" and it has affected his relationships. "I'm only here because of my grandchildren or I wouldn't be here.

The development has drawn wide international attention, with diplomatic circles watching closely.