The majority of prison officers who responded to a survey commissioned by their representative association feel unsafe in their dealings with prisoners and believe the Irish Prison Service is not doing enough to ensure their safety at work.
The study, carried out by researchers at the University of Limerick on behalf of the Prison Officers' Association (POA), has also uncovered high levels of physical altercation between inmates and prison officers.
Some 10 per cent of the prison service's 3,200 prison officers were surveyed. The researchers reported a response rate of 67 per cent. In all 43 per cent of officers surveyed said they had encountered "physically challenging behaviour on a weekly or daily basis in the last year".
POA president Jim Mitchell said the report was "alarming" and it should be carefully considered by prison management. "It is quite remarkable that almost 86 per cent of prison officers believe that the service provides them with insufficient support to ensure safety at work, while over 65 per cent feel unsafe when interacting with service users as part of their job." The survey also revealed that 87 per cent of respondents believed morale had deteriorated in the last three years. That period saw the ending of an overtime system costing €60 million annually.
However, prison service director general Brian Purcell said he was surprised to hear the POA speaking about the research in the media yesterday because he was not given prior notice of its publication. The POA had not had the "courtesy" to inform him. Without having reviewed the material he was not in a position to comment.
"I would like to point out that this survey was not, as [ the POA] has stated, 'conducted independently', but rather was commissioned and paid for by the Prison Officers' Association," he said.
The prison service had "in so far as is possible" made efforts to manage the risks associated with holding convicted criminals in prison. These risks were common to every prison service.
The research was carried out by Dr Patrick Gunnigle and Dr Christine Cross of the University of Limerick.
