The Ulster Unionist Party’s Justice spokesperson, Doug Beattie MC MLA, has again highlighted issues relating to prison staffing levels which must be resolved to ensure safety of staff and inmates.
Doug Beattie MC said:
“Having met with representatives from the Prison Officers Association (POA), it is clear that serious concerns remain regarding staffing issues within the local prison system, especially HMP Maghaberry. These have largely been ignored since they dropped out of the media spotlight following recent deaths in custody. In particular, the POA are concerned about the manning of the control pods in each ‘house’ which should be set at two officers, but due to enhanced technology, has been reduced to one. The issue being that the intended enhancement in technology has not materialised, and the system – particularly signing prisoners out of the house - which should be electronic, remains manual.
“There are also concerns about the number of officers staffing the house in general. The POA believe that this should be set at between 10 to 12, yet due to a Regime Delivery Quota (RDQ) - set by the Northern Ireland prison Service (NIPS) - the level of staffing sits at around 8. This means that in order to monitor a floor with just 2 officers, they actually have to break rules set out by the prison leadership and conduct an unlock with just 1 officer so the second officer can have sight of the opposing section of the landing.
“These staffing issues are exacerbated by the situation in the Emergency Control room – the central hub of the prison that monitors all activities. This should have 4 officers and 1 Manager, but is expected to control the prison with 4 officers by day and 3 at night. All too often it is 3 throughout the day as well. The importance of this control room cannot be overstated. It basically sets the tempo and regime for the whole prison and if it is not functioning correctly due to being understaffed, the whole prison regime suffers. It has a role to ensure that all lock-ups take place on time and if they do not, then they must be reported to the Justice Minister. However, that does not happen and the routine failure of the prison to lock prisoners up on time and as per the prison regime, goes unreported.
“I have long argued that the NIPS should reinstate minimum staffing levels and the RDQ should be scrapped especially in our only high security prison at Maghaberry. The use of funding for overtime should be replaced by the use of funding to recruit and maintain staff and this means addressing their pay. I have raised pay with the Prison Service Pay Review Body in a letter asking why the NIPS pay award due in April 2017 has still not been received by the staff.
“Until we address the staffing of the NIPS, and value officers to promote retention, we will continue to be on the back foot. Given the working environment, failure is tragically measured by avoidable deaths in custody.”