International Law

Prison plans spark safety fears

By John Hirst

Public safety will be jeopardised by plans to change working practices in state-run prisons, the Prison Officers Association has warned.

I had to laugh at Brian Caton, General Secretary of the Prison Officer's Association, as he described working in a modern prison as being like working down a coal mine in the 1950s. The screws are rattling their cages again, always looking to take advantage of a government in disarray. I was also amused about the claim of "de-skilling and downgrading" the role of the prison officer. Trained monkeys can do a better job, and how do you downgrade the lowest of the low which prison officers are? Prison officers are renowned for their laziness. Over paid, over weight, and under worked. The private sector has shown that it is possible to reduce the over staffing employed in the public sector. Serco, for example, will employ 2 staff to do a job which the POA claims needs 6 or more staff to do.

Full post as published by prisonlawinsideout on February 16, 2009 (boomark / email).