Welsh prison worker couple prepare for Christmas Day park run with 100 inmates including thieves and murderers

A couple who work in the same Welsh prison is preparing for another Christmas Day spent with inmates which will see them juggle a 100-strong prisoner park run with their daughter’s 15th birthday.

Juan and Lisa Mouton, from Wrexham, Wales, have both worked at HMP Berwyn since 2017, a category-C prison which means the inmates are deemed unlikely to escape but cannot be trusted in an open jail.

Juan, 41, a physical education trainer, will be spending Christmas morning overseeing a park run with 100 well-behaved prisoners who are serving time for all types of crime, from theft to murder, before rushing home for lunch and some quality family time.

Meanwhile, Lisa, 39, the prison’s custodial manager who is due to work a nightshift on New Year’s Day, will be celebrating their eldest daughter’s 15th birthday on Christmas Day, along with their three other children, who cannot be named for security reasons, aged 12, seven and six.

The couple say their children “know no different” and that when you are dealing with the “worst of society”, the trick is to leave your problems “at the gate”.

“We have a shift pattern and outside of that we have to devise our own home shift pattern so that we know at any one time if one of us is in work the other one is off,” Lisa told PA Real Life.

“Nobody wants to be here over Christmas, not us, not the prisoners,” said Juan.

The couple met at work in 2005 while serving as prison officers at HMP Prison Feltham in South London.

“We were one short and so I needed to borrow a staff member off the unit and it just so happened to be Lisa,” said Juan.

“Worst decision of my life that,” she joked.

In 2017, the couple decided to relocate to Wrexham after climbing the ranks, where they now live with their four young children.

Juan works in the gym department as physical education instructor, facilitating classes for the 2,000 prisoners who are incarcerated at HMP Berwyn, as well as members of staff.

Lisa is the highest-ranking uniformed member of staff and is in charge of overseeing the running of the prison, which includes hospital escorts and dealing with incidents.

But balancing work and family life is no easy operation with long hours.

“It’s not a nine to five, Monday to Friday job unfortunately, it’s a 365, 24/7 job,” said Juan, speaking from the prison.

“With both of us working in the service, we have that understanding that bank holidays and key dates like Christmas and Easter, there is a need to work.”

Christmas Day is especially challenging as they have the added complication of celebrating their daughter’s birthday.

Lisa worked last Christmas, but this year Juan has drawn the short straw and will be headed into work at around 8.30am after opening presents.

“I’m working this Christmas but for me it’s OK because I only come in for the morning,” he said.

“You’ll be there in the morning to see the kids open presents,” added Lisa.

To make sure their daughter’s birthday is not overshadowed by Christmas, they “prolong the festivities” and sometimes throw a separate party for her around Halloween or during the summer.

Juan’s presence at work is required to oversee the Christmas morning park run, an activity which he pioneered four or five years ago.

“The idea actually comes from my mum who has done over 300 park runs,” he said.

“She said, I think they do one in a prison somewhere, so we decided to have a look. It’s really taken off.

“Our first run we had 13 runners and now the most we’ve had is 205.”

The run, which takes place every week, is open to both prisoners with enhanced privileges and members of staff.

“I think that gives prisoners a bit of escapism and normality,” said Lisa.

“You know, nobody wants to be away from their loved ones throughout the festive period.”

If all goes well, Juan should be home in time for lunch and helping cook Christmas dinner.

Asked what their children think, Lisa said: “I feel quite sorry for them because they know no different and they understand that we have to work.”

“It’s hard, because they’ve almost been trained for it to some extent,” added Juan.

“We are not single parents by any stretch of the imagination, we do have time together, but it tends to be like one day a week or holidays.

“But for the bulk of it, one’s always at work.”

While Lisa will be spending Christmas at home this year, she is scheduled to do a night shift on New Year’s Day from 7pm to 7am.

Swapping between both worlds can be tricky said the couple

“We refer to it as leaving stuff at the gate,” said Juan. “So when you come you need to leave your problems at home.

“If you’ve got problems with your wife or kids, then straight away, that will have an impact on your work.

“And if you say something to the wrong person here you could have an incident.

“The same thing applies to leaving, which is probably more important, because that’s when people’s home life starts to be affected by work.”

The nature of Lisa and Juan’s jobs mean that they can be confronted with difficult or violent situations.

“You can see breakdowns in family relationships,” said Lisa.

“Bereavements, you know, they could lose someone while they are in custody.

“It could be about expectations surrounding they believe they’re getting released at a certain period and they’re not.

“It’s about how we manage that and support them through those times.”

“Every one of these incidents, depending on the individual will result in a different scenario.

“Some will have a big breakdown, you could have violent outbursts or a mental health crisis.”

Despite the aspects of their jobs, Lisa and Juan both “love their jobs, and said the prison system does offer “family friendly hours” for anyone who is struggling to manage their work-life balance and wishes to spend more time with their families.

“We do see the worst of society,” said Juan.

“But we’re not here to judge people, we’re here to support them through and actually rehabilitate them back into society,” added Lisa.

HMP Berwyn is currently looking for officers to join Juan, Lisa and the team.

New recruits are being offered a starting salary of £30,902 as well as full training – to find out more visit prisonandprobationjobs.gov.uk