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THE GENERAL SECRETARY of the Prison Officers’ Association has hit out at what he said was a lack of convictions for inmates who attack officers.
Speaking at the Prison Officers’ Association annual delegate conference in Galway last night, John Clinton also said that reduced staffing levels was increasing the risk for serving officers.
Clinton pointed to recent cases in which prison officers were allegedly attacked by inmates, but the inmates weren’t prosecuted as a result.
“The reduced staffing levels contributes directly to the risk for prison officers with ever-increasing levels of assaults,” Clinton told members of the POA last night.
“To add insult to the injuries inflicted on our officers there is no penalty for the prisoners involved,” he said.
“It is now the case that staff, who have been seriously assaulted and report their assault to the relevant authorities, cannot get a conviction, in spite of a wealth of available evidence.
In one significant case there was even an admission of guilt from the prisoner, yet no conviction.
Clinton pointed towards two incidents in which prison officers were allegedly attacked in a Midlands prison, but said no convictions were brought as a result of lack of available evidence.
“The issue of violence in prisons regrettably continues, with a number of very serious incidents involving assaults on prison staff in the past year,” said Clinton.
He echoed recent calls at the Garda Representative Association annual meeting for mandatory sentencing for people convicted of attacking security officials.
“Mandatory sentencing, as raised by the gardaí earlier this week is undoubtedly needed as one of the responses to assaults on our members, while carrying out their duties,” he said.
“Staffing crisis”
Clinton said that the service was facing a “staffing crisis”, and that there weren’t enough workers to “do what we are required to do”.
“All of us are aware that retirements this year will exceed recruitment figures; this is not sustainable and it creates an ongoing additional risk for prison staff and prisoners,” he said.
He called for officers’ pay to be restored to 2008 levels.
Clinton pointed to recent analysis conducted by the State Claims Agency which found that the projected level of assaults by prisoners on prison staff for 2017 was estimated at 107.
“The nature of these assaults included concussion, lacerations, cuts, fractures burns and bites. Most of these injuries were to the head and face thereby leaving a permanent reminder to the injured officer of the incident,” said Clinton.
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Obviously prison officers should be afforded all the possible protection available including prosecution. The article really lacks any reasons for why these prosecutions are not taking place. Is it a problem in the process? The Gardai? The DPP? The courts? If the problem is identified then it should be straightforward to rectify
@Nick Allen: The reason is the simple lack of willingness to have a “root and branch” reform of the entire judicial system here. From Judges down to the Parole Board and everything in between needs overhauling and bringing into the 21st century. Judges have far to much discretion regards sentencing, the need for Solicitors and Barristers where one “Lawyer” (like the US system would suffice), a dedicated prosecution service and public defenders offices where both would receive a fixed salary instead of the scam of free legal aid. A Police and Prison Service independent of political interference properly funded and staffed to do the jobs that Society require them to do. Everyone can see the need for change but those in power refuse to change it.
The reason you can’t get a conviction or any type of justice for the crimes against you is the Irish prison service and it’s management do not want or afford you any assistance with making or reporting a crime . It’s a case of they do not want incidents made public or reported, as to do so , would shine alight on a failing system ,that is in crisis . The system is well below what staffing levels it needs ,recruitment is taking place at a snails pace and the reason is simple,MONEY and an IPS policy of ,let’s make it a better place for prisoners. The Irish prisons are turning into welfare lead ,hug a thug holiday camps and the terms Imprisonment / justice for crimes / do the crime serve the time ,are all gone and have been replaced with words such a as residents, occupants and patients .
@joe o hare: I would love to know where you are getting your information from. Is it the Big Book of Fairy Tales? Firstly no Officer would ever “Cry Wolf” as you put it about being assaulted by an inmate because to so so would leave them exposed to a counter charge by the inmate. Secondly with the number of CCTV cameras in each Prison any false accusation would be quickly exposed. Now as for 6 months off on full pay. Firstly an Officers injuries would need to be so severe that the Civil Service Chief Medical Officer would have to make a declaration that the Officer was unfit for duty due to the nature of the injuries received which in itself is extremely rare. An investigation has to take place for an Officer to have an injury declared as an Injury on Duty. So get your facts right.
What use would an additional concurrent sentence serve given that that is the usual outcome in this time of multiple previous convictions, crimes committed out on bail etc. Are there any internal sanctions within the prison system itself?
@Ian Moloney: prisoners who assault staff are placed in the separation and care unit for an amount of time decided by the duty governor. They might lose their TV
Loss of canteen and reduced visits. I’ve seen a lot of assaults on staff both male and female staff and prisoners couldn’t care less about being sent to Septation unit.
With the frequency and frivolous nature of the way our judges gave out suspended sentences the criminals would end up with time off their current sentences if this went to court
This is crazy. An assault on the street would warrant a conviction yet somone doing their job and who gets assaulted gets no justice ??? If staffing levels are reduced then it will not only affect prison officers it will affect all of us too as there will be more and more suspended sentences when prisons cannot cope with the prisoners they already have and are unable to take in more. This is not just a personal safety issue for prisoner officers ( which is serious enough on its own) it’s a public safety issue !!!
@ivan enoughofit poor Joe o hare really hasn’t a bulls notion what he’s talking about but thinks because he used to watch prisoner cell block H years ago it makes him an expert!
@joe o hare: you are talking rubbish .Now let the grown ups have the conversation and you head on out and talk to your imaginary friends,who seem to be informing you incorrectly of happenings in the big bad World
The biggest problem with prisons is the easy availability of drugs, do the prison officers supply them or just get a percentage from the inmates who do.
@joe o hare: you are an ape
@Ivan Enoughofit: No he is just trolling. It’s the likes of him that hate any form of law enforcement. He has been caught out telling lies already which make anything else he has to say worthless.
And here is his much their extra holidays cost the taxpayer.http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/prison-staffs-41000-sick-days-cost-taxpayer-75m-266737.html
@joe o hare: go away Joe .2014 article .
@joe o hare: Now I am going to explain in simple terms especially for you how the above number was calculated. Each Prison Officer works a 12 hour shift. Now because Prison staff work on Bi-weekly basis it means that to average out a 44 hour week they work 4 days one week and 3 the alternative week (excluding compulsory overtime shifts). Now let’s say an Officer is off sick on the week that they are rostered on for 3 days. All 7 days of that week are still counted as Sick Days even though they were only going to work 3 of them. And each Officer only can avail of 12 weeks paid Sick Leave in every 4 year period (3 weeks a year.) Now remember what I said about 7 days counted. In reality it breaks down 1.5 weeks a year if you only count rostered days. So in reality the figure is 1 week a year
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