Staff-prisoner relationships are at the heart of the prison system and a stable prison life depends to a large extent on getting these relationships right, particularly in long-term maximum security establishments in the UK. Despite their significance, few studies have explored empirically how these relationships develop and operate. Understanding staff-prisoner interactions requires a detailed and firmly grounded appreciation of the broader tasks prison officers carry out and the nature of prison officer work. Staff-prisoner relationships are invested with an unusual amount of power. This power is, however, `held in reserve' most of the time, as Sykes argued in 1958. Previous studies have generally regarded prison staff superficially and critically. The study reported in this article employs an innovative `appreciative' methodology, seeking to allow staff to focus on the best aspects of their work and role, and the conditions in which they function especially well. Two important features of their work - the peacekeeping aspects and the use of discretion - must be considered in any attempt to describe how staff-prisoner relationships are accomplished.
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