UK Under-staffed Prison; same here?

the_syco

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/feb/22/inside-wandsworth-prison-drug-drones-staff-shortages-daily-struggle

Having read the article, I think the following two paragraphs deals with my query the most; have cuts made to the Irish prison system as bad as the english prison, and also as per the second paragraph; does the base rate of pay still attract good officers?

The prison chaplain is also clear that cuts have made work here harder. “I have been concerned about whether the place is safe; last year in particular, this was a difficult place. There was quite a lot of bang up, and that just raises the tension for prisoners,” he says. “You can’t take a third of the budget out of the system and not take away some of the time that staff have with prisoners. This isn't a place to warehouse people, we have to change their lives too.”

Prison officer pay, which starts at about £19,000, is no longer enough to fund most rents in Wandsworth, or anywhere in London, and more and more staff are commuting long distances to get to work. “I am concerned that the level of remuneration for people coming in at the bottom is insufficient to attract people of adequate calibre. People used to have a sense of vocation. There are people who are frustrated that they can’t deliver what they used to be able to deliver. We have had a lot of people leaving,” the chaplain says.

Rawhead

Yes, understaffing is a problem, budget cuts are a problem, however the biggest problem is the Senior management. The Director General is a career social worker, the governor of Mountjoy spent his career in the dept of Finance and the Director of Operations is a career civil servant. The 3 biggest jobs in the Prison Service are staffed by people who have never had, nor want to have, even the most basic understanding of the role of a Prison Officer. Can you imagine this in any other disciplined, uniformed service? With all the recent gang killings even the most liberal Irish Times reader understands that there are certain individuals in society that are beyond redemption and need to be dealt with as incoragables, not the IPS though. The management are unwilling or unable to deal with the 5% of hardcore prisoners who cause 95% of the trouble. The vast majority of prisoners don't cause much hassle and just do their time, but the hardcore need to be isolated and made do hard time. We're talking about scrotes considered so dangerous that they need the ERU to arrest them and the next day a lad in a blue shirt with only a whistle has to deal with them. One year ago an officer nearly died after being stabbed in Tallaght hospital and he is now being harassed with sick letters.
Add into this an Inspector of Prisons who makes GSOC look like the GRA he is so anti staff. Lag spits in an officers face or assaults him and the first thing he does is lodge a complaint against the officer. All disciplinary proceeding against the dirtbird are suspended until the allegation is investigated, since this can take months there is a good chance pal gets released in the meantime. Even if the allegation is found to be vexatious nothing is ever done, there have been cases where lags have admitted to making up complaints and still nothing is done. If the officer is found guilty of a charge he has no right of appeal or has no right to legal representation during the investigation.
A difficult job is now becoming close to impossible.

Potential-Monke

Rawhead wrote: »

If the officer is found guilty of a charge he has no right of appeal or has no right to legal representation during the investigation.
A difficult job is now becoming close to impossible.

Seriously? No right to legal representation? That's surely illegal, especially if the investigation can result in civil/criminal charges being brought against that officer? I'm not saying it's not true, it's just baffling that someone doesn't have the right to legal representation.

moleyv

A lot of new build prisons in the UK are contracted out. Build manage and run the prison for X amount of years before handing ownership to the state.

Not sure if that would end up with better conditions for workers or not. But with a lack of capital being available for state run infrastructure, I wonder if it will be considered in Ireland (or indeed had already happened?)

I know a lot more money is put into the building of these by the private company that will reduce fighting and improve conditions. Does that also mean less staff required, I don't know.