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BEING SLASHED AND having human excrement thrown at you – these are just some of the vicious attacks that prison officers deal with daily.
One prison officer told TheJournal.ie that on one day last year three separate attacks were carried out on prison officers in one prison.
One officer was slashed and needed 13 stitches to his buttocks, another officer suffered leg injuries and in the third case the pan used for ‘slopping out’ was thrown over the head of a prison officer.
In the case of the officer who was slashed, it’s understood that the prisoner has admitted he carried out the attack but he was never charged for assault.
The Prison Officers’ Association is holding its annual conference in Athlone this week. The organisation is claiming that gardaí are called in immediately when a prisoner makes a complaint but that prison officers are left chasing gardaí when they’re assaulted.
POA Assistant General Secretary Gabriel Keaveny said that in another situation, “we have video evidence available to show a staff member did nothing wrong whatsoever, but nothing is being done to prosecute the prisoner”.
“It is clearly the belief of the POA that the gardai are called in within a couple of minutes after a prisoner makes an allegation.
However, when a staff officer is assaulted, that doesn’t happen because the Prison Service is trying to play down the number of complaints and assaults that are taking place on staff.
Chasing gardaí
Keaveny said:
We are dealing with a situation at the moment in some of our prisons we are chasing gardaí for six, seven or eight months to come in, take statements from prison officers when they were clearly assaulted on duty, or serious threats were being made against them and nothing has been done.
The POA is calling for a meeting with the garda commissioner to “ask her to prioritise that where complaints are being made by prison officers against prisoners, then they should be pursued”.
The Assistant General Secretary added:
“We believe there are between 50 and 60 complaints ongoing at present that prison officers have made and the gardaí are not dealing with them properly as far as we are concerned.
We are dealing with four cases at present where we believe gardaí have not actually behaved appropriately to the complaints being made by prison officers, who have been assaulted.
The Garda Press Office released a statement addressing the allegation, saying:
Any crime or incident that is reported to gardaí by a member of the public (prisoner and prisoner officer included) is assessed and fully investigated.
“An Garda Siochana would encourage anyone who feels they have been a victim of a crime to report it to gardaí.”
We’ll be reporting from this year’s Prison Officers Annual Delegate Conference in Athlone, so keep an eye out and follow @CliodhnaRussell for updates.
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It’s not just the physical harm, it’s the mental trauma that can hit the hardest. Despite the director generals very weak effort to bring some sort of mental health awareness into the service, the IPS really don’t have a clue how to help someone who needs it. Not even that, they don’t want to help. They really don’t want to know. They will make things so difficult for a person who has been affected by physical and mental violence. To the point where that person will almost consider walking away from the job. It’s the colleagues on the floor and the staff support officers who are the real support. When times are hard, your colleagues really do come out in force to help you. Such a great group of men and women. Never looking for thanks. Because we don’t want it, all we want is to go home to our families at the end of each day, safe and well.
About…i know the feeling…you have to endure.
Well done!
There are no consequences worth talking about for all this stuff.if there was a likelihood of getting an extra year or 3 onto a sentence for this kind of thuggery wardens would regain the upper hand.
Who’s getting 100k?
Fool.
I don’t see anything in the article about pay….
Paul; the terms and conditions,as you put it, have deteriorated immeasurably over the last few years. This article isn’t about pay restoration or more money. It’s about the right of a state employee to lawfully go to work, do his/her job in as safe an environment as can be provided given the nature of their job and go home to their families. We understand the dangers in our job but when something goes wrong, and when it does it can be life and death, our employers have a duty to pursue the wrongdoer to the letter of the law.
Ciaran…couldnt agree more…
Paul. Is just trolling for a reaction.
Paul .you are an ape and not fit to walk in the shoes of these men
Paul You posted up earlier about pay and strikes in relation to prison officers. In order to not look stupid do some research into the pay structure of the prison service. No prison officer is on 100k. Yes prison officers do sign up to terms and conditions but since i signed up for the job them terms and conditions have been reduced.
I wouldn’t make assumptions on something your not well informed on. Keep your comments to yourself you dick
Paul Doyle I would love u to go behind the walls and get covered in sh**, spat at , pissed on and that’s just by the management
Id be happy to see them go on strike. They deserve more then you ya muppet
Ciaran you are long enough around to know your employer couldnt care if you died tommorrow
I’m sure @ Paul you absolute muppet that the terms and conditions did not have “stand and let shit and piss be thrown over your head ” . And shows what you’re like if you think anyone should accept this treatment in their daily job
There’s a little bit of a difference between guards, prison officers, and luas drivers, do you not think? And who’s getting a 100k?
Can we talk about Paul Murph getting free legal aid instead? His explanation of such a farcical situation is a big middle finger to ordinary working people.
Paul Murphy is out for Paul Murphy – anyone who can’t see that is a fool. Paul and his ilk use and abuse the most vulnerable in society to further their own agenda.
He doesn’t want to pay for water, he doesn’t want to pay tax.
He never stops criticising the state – but he has no problem putting his hand out for them to pay for absolutely everything in his life.
1.9 million in salary and expenses as an MEP.
Almost 90k salary.
God knows how much in expenses.
*Local property tax – (Which he paid anyway or else he couldn’t sell his apartment for a profit and buy his nice home in a nice area in Tallaght – up socialism eh).
The real question is:
‘Why is the establishment trying to silence a democratically elected public representative’
This isn’t Thatcher’s Britain.
(not yet anyway)
Trying to silence him lol?
You could be right – they’re stuffing money down his throat.
But here’s the real question:
When he was
“I receive a net annual salary of just over €1,800 a month and with that I pay my mortgage and other bills.”
Did he put this salary down when he applied for his mortgage.
Yea, I’ll bet he fkn did alright.
Cal
How are they trying to silence him. They are paying his legal bills to give him a voice. Do left wing looneys not read the article before commenting?
When I was in college coming up to exam time we always had a lecture on exam skills. The key message was always to answer the question on the paper and not he question you want to see on the paper. It was and still is good advice, you should try it before posting
Nick, if this was a politician from any other party the left looney brigade would be up in arms and Paul “I won’t get out of bed until the taxpayer wipes my —” Murphy would be first out of the blocks.
He and his ilk are absolute hypocrites. He lives a very good life in looney left land on 1,800 a month.
Just a normal bloke really………
‘Do left wing looneys not read the article before commenting?’
I’ll ask them the next time I see one.
Too true
Being A Prison OFFICER DESTROY’S YOUR LIFE.
As an officer you are placed in a disease and at times, violent world of pain and despair. Shrouded from the good and innocent, love and happiness, calm and quiet.
You are often secluded with societies worst, attempting to correct the behavior of those that in most cases do not want to be corrected.
The outside world does not care about the unseen officers. They pretend the brutal world of a prison does not exist. The management in charge turn their backs until something bad happens. At this point the questions are being asked and fingers are being pointed. Often at the officer and saying they are at fault.
Slowly the officer becomes desensitized and withdrawn to family and friends. You alienate yourself from existing friends.
On the outside of the walls there is nobody to talk to. They don’t understand because your life is shrouded in secrecy and hidden from the public. You often find yourself sitting in the back of the pub or restaurant with your back to the wall. A loud bang and your heart jumps fearing the worst has just happened.
More to follow
Eloquently put bud.
@ Mick Jordan from the heart of a former warrior. One who has walked your walk and is allowed to pass judgement, but doesn’t , because I’ve been there with you and really does understand the role
No truer word was spoken bud. Especially that last part. Trying to talk to or even explain what it is like to work behind the walls to family of friends is almost impossible. It really is a job where in order to understand it, you have to live it. It can take over your life. We are an odd group some might say. We hear an alarm, we run towards, not questioning what it is or worrying for our safety. We just do, in case one of us needs help. Or sense of humour is “unique” to say the least, and really is a product of our environment. The outside world would recoil in horror to what we find funny! I’m sure in the years to come, someone will do a long term study of what happens to a person who works as a prison officer over time and the findings will shock the outside world. Granted, without the colleagues that are there, I think the job would be impossible to do for any length of time.
I didn’t sign up to have my nose broken by a prisoner who wanted to shove drugs up his arse.where was that in my contract.€100k a year I wish.
We need proper investment in our prison system. Instead we got a deal involving brown envelopes for a plot of land that would never become a prison.
There are way to many people with literally hundreds of convictions walking the streets.
I do believe however that if you take way someone else’s human rights yours should also be taken away from you so therefore why not just put twenty criminals in a cell made for two without any privileges?
Criminals do not care about society why should society care for them ?
privatize the prisons
@fm
The Thornton Hall plan was a disaster. It included the location of the Central Mental Hospital next door to the prison. That would have been horrific because it would have increased the stigma that some people attach to mental illness. The plan fell through because of the economic crisis. That shows that every cloud has a silver lining.
Absolutely no way we should privatize the prisons. The US prisons payed out nearly a billion dollars in dividends to it’s shareholders last year. Privatizing the prisons would mean people would go to jail for anything and everything. That, and the drug war in America has resulted in the most vulnerable in society going to jail and lads in suits making money of it. What we need is a complete overhaul where working prisons are introduced to help fund them and the only people in them should be repeat violent offenders. Petty criminals should be made do community service.
Thornton hall…a money pit.
I think the utility might have outweighed the stigma..
And our corrupt politicians award the contracts to their corrupt former politician friends now running private prisons…no thanks..not after seeing HOW corrupt our politicians were with IW….
Being a Prison officer takes its toll on your health and mind. Eating away at you from the inside out.
The public should think about the prison officers and the job they do to protect you and your family from the unseen.
Pray that they stay safe to return home to loved ones.
Think about prison officers and how their lives are affected by this hidden world.
Thank them for all that they give up for you and your family.
In closing, think about their sacrifice and consider putting in place mental health assistance for the staff.
A Serving Officer
Well said aboutallthethings, the IPS are horrendously bad and simply not equipped to deal with the many issue staff have, IPS needs to be dismantled.
Prison guards should be armed and have s shot to kill policy on any prisoner that attacks them…every prisoner should know and fear this going in. Prisoners should live in absolute fear all of them
John
Although it may solve some of the problems it may create a few others. It just may be a step too far
They don’t need to be armed, they need to be supported by the IPS and they aren’t.
The sick leave of Prison Officers was cut despite the fact that Prioson Officers and other front line workers are 10 time more likely to be injured at work. No regard for the daily threat that they live with when they do to work.
“…the pan used for ‘slopping out’ was thrown over the head of a prison officer.”
All the more reason to eradicate ‘slopping out’ – as is shown in this case, a bucket of human waste is an horrendous weapon that can be used against prison officers and other prisoners.
Ciaran up until reading that article I would have disagreed with you and said that they should be treated like filth that they are and made slop out but looking at it now you are right , it needs to be stopped for the very reason you said, so that it can’t be used as a weapon . Innocent naive oul me didn’t even consider that would happen
Don’t send non violent, drug offenders, driving offenders and other civil offenders to prison and increase sentences for murders, violent offenders burglars rapists etc. The only people who should be in prison are violent people who can’t function in society, the rest of people who brake minor laws should be made do community work. Imagine half the people in them prisons have an easier life then the people working in them. Madness
Well said Paddy – some people here think that if you do that job then it is a licence to be used as a punch bag.
Good luck with getting the garda commish take some responsibility…
Sounds a little editorialised but a disgrace if factual. I just can’t see why the Gardai would show favouritism toward prisoner over prison officer.
Would this county not be a better place if the general discourse was positive rather than this constant having a dig. Yes there are bad eggs in every profession but I don’t believe that they are all as bad as what the media say. I wonder has this got anything to do with the fact that controversy creates more viewers / readers hence more advertising revenue.
It’s not the Gardai showing favouritism – it’s Prison management.
Prison Officers are treated very badly when they’re out sick after being injured in the line of duty.
No cares Pat, we are all only a number as you well know
where do I send my CV? I want to clean these places up
Time to employ the army
Watched the program “Vogue in prison” about 2 weeks ago. Vogue Williams visits a prison in America..our prisons are a holiday compared to the ones over there…the one she visited had predominantly female officers and the prisoners wouldn’t even look in their eyes for fear of being punished…need to take a leaf out of their books for Irish prisons I reckon…
Disgusting individuals!! Add another month or two to their sentences and they might think twice before doing it again!! It sounds like the thugs are in charge in Mountjoy!! System is too soft!! Every act of disorder hast to have ramifications!! Wake up dear Politicians!! Proctect the individual who’s working for the State and not those working against it!!!
Dept of justice and irish prison service run by welfare officers. Enought said.
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