POA Press Releases

Prison Service in Crisis and Dangerous

The POA believe the Prison Service is in crisis due to the Prison Closure programme and budget cuts along with an increase to the prison population.

Steve Gillan General Secretary of the POA stated;

“All the warning signs are there. Assaults on staff are on the increase and prisoner on prisoner assaults are at record levels. The cuts and closure programme is disastrous and Government need to act before there is a fatality. Two thousand officers have been made redundant nationwide yet there is a reliance on detached duty around the country because the service are so stretched. Prisoners are on the verge of being locked out because of a lack of space.

Operational capacity has been increased at some establishments. The service in our view is at breaking point”

The prison population has increased by 635 prisoners in the last 3 weeks‎.