Prison Officer

cordub

glhoran121 wrote: »

http://www.rte.ie/news/2011/0505/prison.html
Justice Minister Alan Shatter has said there has been a dramatic increase in the number of prisoners in the country's jails and is the highest it has ever been.

thats the normal reaction to the crime rate when the recession hits,I wonder what % of the number of those in jails are for non payment of fines , credit and bank debts etc Say you find that there has been a huge jump in those convictions!!! Fastly running out of space why are the community service orders not being used more ??

sodbuster77

I think they should hire more staff asap to deal with the problem:cool:

slim1919

sodbuster77 wrote: »

I think they should hire more staff asap to deal with the problem:cool:

i second that

cordub

slim1919 wrote: »

i second that

HEAR HEAR !!!

somehope11

sodbuster77 wrote: »

I think they should hire more staff asap to deal with the problem:cool:

Best idea i've heard on this thread so far:D

cordub

INSTEAD of employing more staff this is where the money IS going :mad::mad: from THE IRISH TIMES TODAY :
FINANCIAL WASTE is rife in the Irish Prison Service, prison officers said yesterday, citing a litany of poor spending decisions, including a 100 per cent rise in the cost of medicines since the introduction of new “blister packs”.
Speaking at the Prison Officers’ Association annual conference, Cork delegate Mick Sheehan referred to a 200 per cent increase in spending on new chamber pots, which he said went largely unused, as well as spending on teaching materials at five times an alternative quote.
A number of delegates said such waste would lead to further calls for savings in terms of pay cuts, and that individual examples needed to be highlighted in the media before this happened.
Describing what he called “poor management decisions”, Mr Sheehan said an opinion had been formed in Cork prison that more robust chamber pots which would be long-lasting and “could be recycled for longer” should be used. This was, he said, in preference to a “plastic bucket and lid” which cost €19.96 inclusive of vat.
The model chosen to replace the bucket was a “camping kasi”, he said, which cost €60.
However, he said the prisoners retained the plastic buckets because they did “not want that heap in the room”.
He said medicines, predominantly tablets that were dispensed by nurses in prisons, were now bought in “blister packets”, but this had led to a 100 per cent increase in cost.
A spokesman for the association later confirmed that medicines such as antibiotics which had cost €20 were found to cost €40 in blister packets for the same quantities.
Mr Sheehan also instanced the purchase of art materials by Cork prison which he claimed were available in stores locally in Cork at a sale price of €8.99. He said a request was made for authorisation to spend up to €100 on the materials but this was disallowed because the supplier was not on an approved list. A request for money from petty cash was also turned down “because there wasn’t any”, he said.
Ultimately, Mr Sheehan said, the purchase of materials was authorised, but from an approved supplier who was not having a sale and who charged €49.99 per unit instead of €8.99.
“€500 was spent instead of €100, and all of this is at a time when the prison service is attacking our basic pay and and taking more money off us.”
The conference passed a motion approving efforts to highlight such issues in the media.:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:

senordingdong

Well surely that's a good thing

cordub

senordingdong wrote: »

Well surely that's a good thing

what is??

senordingdong

That these problems are being highlighted.

bitter_lemon

there was an interesting documentary on tv3 last night @9pm called "behind bars". i think it will be on for a few weeks every tuesday night at the same time. lots of faces i recognised
its all about the history of the prison service and also shows the modern day situation. worth a watch.
they are also showing "strangeways" on a monday night @ 9pm on utv.

as regards our union meeting i hope they represented us well and didn't get locked on the free bar and start yup yupping at the back table which they normally do :rolleyes:

Rawhead

bitter_lemon wrote: »

there was an interesting documentary on tv3 last night @9pm called "behind bars". i think it will be on for a few weeks every tuesday night at the same time. lots of faces i recognised
its all about the history of the prison service and also shows the modern day situation. worth a watch.
they are also showing "strangeways" on a monday night @ 9pm on utv.

as regards our union meeting i hope they represented us well and didn't get locked on the free bar and start yup yupping at the back table which they normally do :rolleyes:

Not a bad show. Wish Whelan or one of Mountjoys current brass would have spoken instead of Lonergan. Surely we have a better spokesperson than Larry the torch from the retired members.
Overall though it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

slim1919

Rawhead wrote: »

Not a bad show. Wish Whelan or one of Mountjoys current brass would have spoken instead of Lonergan. Surely we have a better spokesperson than Larry the torch from the retired members.
Overall though it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

ye i though it was good it will get better over the next weeks when they do more modern times

Yourwellcum

The word coming out of Beladd is that they have been told by IPS not to expect any more classes this year.

This can obviously change at a moments notice but given the current financial situation I would say thats unlikely

slim1919

i think that this country is great they can spend 30 million on two people that if we are being honest most of the country dont want or dont care to come here but they will let the garda and prison service go understaffed what a place

irelanddan

Just watching Strangeways.a prison officer has to be one of the hardest jobs if not the hardest you can have,mentally and physically.Its scary how one prisoner can be so labour intensive.Fair play to all prison officers out there!

cordub

irelanddan wrote: »

Just watching Strangeways.a prison officer has to be one of the hardest jobs if not the hardest you can have,mentally and physically.Its scary how one prisoner can be so labour intensive.Fair play to all prison officers out there!

Am watching it and thinking am I mad to be doing this job, This is the way it is . am delighted to see these programmes who show it as it is and how important it is that we have staff at all times !!!

Leo Demidov

irelanddan wrote: »

Fair play to all prison officers out there!

Its a piece of p1ss, sometimes literally.

bitter_lemon

wexfjord wrote: »

Its a piece of p1ss, sometimes literally.

some days are good. some days are bad. you are talking piss as you so put it. you haven't a clue :rolleyes:

bitter_lemon

especially if you factor in the ratio between prison officer v prisoners. the outside world will not ever know or appreciate what is going on. i am annoyed that the public do not realise this yet they take take take....
we are never heard. i have a huge problem with that :mad:

Rawhead

bitter_lemon wrote: »

especially if you factor in the ratio between prison officer v prisoners. the outside world will not ever know or appreciate what is going on. i am annoyed that the public do not realise this yet they take take take....
we are never heard. i have a huge problem with that :mad:

In all fairness you learn after your first few weeks that you will never be recognised for your efforts and that the only time we make the news is when something bad happens.
Join the fire brigade if you want love and recognition..

bitter_lemon

Rawhead wrote: »

In all fairness you learn after your first few weeks that you will never be recognised for your efforts and that the only time we make the news is when something bad happens.
Join the fire brigade if you want love and recognition..

lol yes
you made me laugh!

cordub

bitter_lemon wrote: »

lol yes
you made me laugh!

Met some friends today who watched STRANGEWAYS and were dumbfounded by the programme, I was bombarded with questions ie was it just made to look like that for the telly ? was it really that bad?? People in the NORMAL world dont have a clue they think we are going into a holiday village doing nothing everyday!! I was delighted to tell them that this was very much the NORM and this was what my working day could consist of . They just dont realise the type of person that we come into contact with on a daily bases but thanks to this programme some eyes have been slightly opened!!

irelanddan

I must admit I was dumbfounded by the programme as to how dangerous the job is,a prison officer is in such close proximity to extremely dangerous people.Obviously,I knew that before watching programme but its only when you see it for yourself it sinks in,the level of danger,threat is very high.

slim1919

ye i think its a really good show have been looking for a show like this since i did the interview it really gives you a insight into life inside for a prison officer

480905

It's amazing to think how many people think we are laughing and joking with prisoners and sharing our lifes stories with them and just having a whale of a time with Junkies, rapists, thieves, murderers .....
TV3 did a fly on the wall series in Mountjoy in the 90's, Cameras in the jail absolutely everywhere. It was funny, one day , I was on the circle gate when these lads were in, a certain Chief since retired from creeping around (those around long enough will know who he is from the "creeping" description) told me that if an alarm went off, they were NOT to get past the circle gate with the camera (access all areas me arse). LO and behold , 10 minutes later , murder in the A exercise, alarms going off all over the shop.... Camera man saw staff running responding to the alarm, started to run with them, suddenly and accidentally tripped. I didn't have to obey a deniable chiefs order that day.....:)

cordub

480905 wrote: »

It's amazing to think how many people think we are laughing and joking with prisoners and sharing our lifes stories with them and just having a whale of a time with Junkies, rapists, thieves, murderers .....
TV3 did a fly on the wall series in Mountjoy in the 90's, Cameras in the jail absolutely everywhere. It was funny, one day , I was on the circle gate when these lads were in, a certain Chief since retired from creeping around (those around long enough will know who he is from the "creeping" description) told me that if an alarm went off, they were NOT to get past the circle gate with the camera (access all areas me arse). LO and behold , 10 minutes later , murder in the A exercise, alarms going off all over the shop.... Camera man saw staff running responding to the alarm, started to run with them, suddenly and accidentally tripped. I didn't have to obey a deniable chiefs order that day.....:)

ah sure thats like when our esteemed minister of justice was visiting the jails over the last couple of months!Walked around a locked up jail and saw nothing !! they spent days cleaning and painting the bloody place whos fooling who I wonder!!!:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

senordingdong

cordub wrote: »

ah sure thats like when our esteemed minister of justice was visiting the jails over the last couple of months!Walked around a locked up jail and saw nothing !! they spent days cleaning and painting the bloody place whos fooling who I wonder!!!:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

Yeah I didn't understand the logic behind that myself.
Someone said they recalled all the staff too, failing to highlight the staffing problems.

cordub

senordingdong wrote: »

Yeah I didn't understand the logic behind that myself.
Someone said they recalled all the staff too, failing to highlight the staffing problems.

say they are well aware of the staffing problem he just doest give a s**T what can you see in an hour anyway ??? PR stunt!!!

Rawhead

480905 wrote: »

It's amazing to think how many people think we are laughing and joking with prisoners and sharing our lifes stories with them and just having a whale of a time with Junkies, rapists, thieves, murderers .....
TV3 did a fly on the wall series in Mountjoy in the 90's, Cameras in the jail absolutely everywhere. It was funny, one day , I was on the circle gate when these lads were in, a certain Chief since retired from creeping around (those around long enough will know who he is from the "creeping" description) told me that if an alarm went off, they were NOT to get past the circle gate with the camera (access all areas me arse). LO and behold , 10 minutes later , murder in the A exercise, alarms going off all over the shop.... Camera man saw staff running responding to the alarm, started to run with them, suddenly and accidentally tripped. I didn't have to obey a deniable chiefs order that day.....:)

You would have to wonder what CJ would make of the Joy these days. I can say one thing for sure, in fact I would wager 6 months wages on it. If a scrote took CJ's hat off in the yard and started throwing it around he wouldn't have laughed nervously and said "boys will be boys".
It would be fair to say that every lag in the yard would have been "robustly" dealt with. I'm not a hang'em and flog'em merchant but the animals are running the zoo at this stage.

480905

On the A Ex gate one day..CJ doing his rounds... Prisoner roars abuse at him as he came through onto the compound... He looked at me (rookie on the gate)..and said, " Pick one and P19 him for abusing an officer"... After that there was no more abuse... Poor oul snags hadn't or HASN'T got the balls .... Some great men ran jails then.... Bill Davis(RIP) you'd follow that man across broken glass barefoot cos you knew he'd be either leading you or in the thick of the **** himself. , CJ ( even though he was a ****ebag to staff),prisoners knew they were at nothing whe they took him on... He hated them a slight bit more than he hated staff.....There's not one of them now could even hold a candle to men like that.....They call themselves Chiefs?????..... Not a fcuking hope.