SHARON CHEETHAM could grace the pages of a fashion magazine.

But the 28-year-old with looks that turn heads spends her day in the company of sex offenders and other outcasts from society in a high security male prison.

Rapists, child molesters and murderers are among the prisoners under lock and key at Wymott Prison, Leyland - and it's Sharon's duty as prison officer to attempt to transform the inmates into law-abiding citizens.

"The prison service likes to have at least one woman prison officer as a tutor on a sex offending treatment programme," said Sharon.

"Sex offenders treat women as objects.

"They don't see them as real people.

"They are forced to see me as a real person because I am in charge and it challenges their distortions."

She revealed: "People do expect me to be big and butch but I'm not.

"When I first joined the prison service I was aware of the prisoners looking at me but you just learn to ignore it.

"I don't look at what they are in for so that I can treat them equally."

The need to challenge the inmates' twisted view of women is one reason why more female prison officers are required.

Blackburn MP Jack Straw highlighted another.

The Home Secretary is shocked at the small percentage of female prison officers.

He believes they can create a "non-confrontational atmosphere" in Britain's jails because the feminine approach can defuse a potentially violent situation. His view is shared by the Chief Inspector of Prisons, Sir David Ramsbotham, who also wants more women governors overseeing female prisons.

Sharon agreed: "Women are better at reducing the tension but it is the prisoners' attitude to us, not our skills, that account for this.

"Inmates see us as the gentler sex and will usually stop fighting if we ask them to. It is a big no-no for a prisoner to strike a female guard.

"Prisoners will actually protect you in this case.

"If you tell them to stop fighting, in most cases they will.

"I have also seen women governors in action and they are good."

But she did confess that many inmates saw women officers, outnumbered four to one at Wymott, as a "soft option."

"The prisoners do try to take advantage of you if you are female," she said.

"They pester and flirt with you. They play on female feelings. You have to be on your guard and stand your ground.

"On the other hand, they like to impress women so they mostly behave well.

"You need a good personality to get them to do some things but you have to distance yourself from them.

"I have never come across any sexual harassment.

"They have to toe the line or they won't get what is entitled to them.

"As long as they respect you, you respect them." She does worry, however, that she may have lost her femininity.

"It is not a feminine job," she said.

"I feel asexual.

"You can't have long nails and posh hairdos in this job.

"You have to be in control and strong, like a man."

Sharon, originally from Kent, is a former psychiatric nurse and went into prison work for the money and stability. Her first post, six years ago, was at the notorious Wormwood Scrubbs, in London.

Sharon, who lives in East Lancashire with her husband - also a prison officer at Wymott - said: "When I first went inside the prison there were 340 prisoners with their cells unlocked. I thought 'What am I doing?' But now I don't see the job as dangerous.

"If I did, I probably wouldn't do it.

"You are safe in the knowledge that you have back-up."

Sharon is also a trained tutor for drug awareness, HIV and AIDS and hopes to be a governor one day.

She said: "It is easy to say 'God, there are some really nasty people in here' - and I am less trusting than I was.

"But prisoners have to deal with their offending behaviour before they leave prison. We have to make them aware of their victims.

"If we can stop one person out of 20 from re-offending, then it is one less victim."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.