Prison off icer fury af ter knife is found
PRISON officers have stepped up their demands for those on inmate escort duty to get stab vests ‘as standard’ following the discovery of a knife in hospital toilets.
At the weekend three officers from Cloverhill jail were escorting a low-risk inmate who had complained of stomach pain to hospital when the find was made.
Such was the speed with which the inmate needed to be taken to Tallaght Hospital, Dublin, his escorts are said to not have had enough time to get their vests.
It was while the inmate was being treated that a male member of the hospital staff discovered a knife in the male toilets on Sunday. Gardaí and the prison authorities were then notified.
Three stab-proof vests were then dispatched to the hospital for the escort officers.
There is no suggestion the prison escort being undertaken at the time and the discovery of the knife in toilets were in any way related.
In February convicted robber Derek Brockwell fled from Tallaght Hospital after stabbing two prison officers.
Brockwell, 53, was later recaptured in the North and sent to England where he was wanted for failing to return to prison.
Recently there has been a review of prison escort procedures.
Among a number of recommendations was the purchase of anti-stab vests to be worn by all staff on escorts identified as ‘high risk’.
Last week, Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald said: ‘An implementation group, has been established, chaired by the Governor of the Prison Service Escort Corps, and the implementation of these recommendations has commenced.
‘The Irish Prison Service has identified a requirement for approximately 160 vests across all prisons and the vast majority of these have been recently deployed.’
However, the Prison Officers Association last night said it believes the measure does not go far enough.
POA deputy general secretary Jim Mitchell, said: ‘The inmate who happened to be attending the hospital when a knife was found was not a “high-risk” inmate.
‘But this incident goes to the heart of the matter. It should be standard practice that all officers involved in prison escorts be issued with stabproof vests.
‘The fact that the vests had to be sent over to them after the knife was found is ludicrous.’
The Irish Prison Service was unavailable for comment.
Morale among prison officers is said to be at an all-time low and the possibility of a strike could potentially become a reality in just six weeks’ time. One of the key issues affecting morale is the perception that officers’ safety concerns are not being taken seriously enough.
Both the Irish Prison Service and the Department of Justice have denied this.
The decision to give vicious criminals access to luxury items such as fish tanks and PlayStation computer games consoles has also infuriated officers.
At the POA conference last week, it was revealed that an inmate with a track record of assaults against prison officers was allowed celebrate his birthday with a €1.99 Swiss roll just days after he stabbed two officers in the head.
The POA is also unhappy over the sentencing on Thursday of Leon Wright, who had assaulted a member of prison staff.
He was given a three-month concurrent sentence for assaulting a prison officer.
Wright, who has a history of assaulting prison officers, is considered so dangerous he has to be escorted by prison officers dressed in riot gear whenever he leaves his cell.
Speaking at last week’s POA conference, its president Stephen Delaney said an increasing number of mentally unstable criminals are being committed to mainstream jails when instead they should be housed in specialist centres, such as the Central Mental Hospital.
He said a rise in vicious attacks against officers is causing increasing concern about safety among his members.
A growing number are turning up for work wondering if they are either going to be killed or seriously maimed.
Officers are also concerned the IPS is going to cut jobs and lower wages as part of an on-going cost savings review.
‘Ludicrous for vests
to be sent over’