Creaking prison system braced for big shake-up

There were two firsts in the prison system this year. The number of people in the State's 15 penal institutions reached its highest ever level and prison officers' overtime soared to more than £30 million.

The two are not unconnected. The high prison population, leading to crisis levels of overcrowding in Mountjoy, has strained a chronically inefficient system. A handful of prison officers are making more than twice the annual salary in overtime payments - the average overtime payment to each officer was £12,000.

The latest Government proposals to reduce the overtime bill and the cost of sick leave by prison officers coincides with the setting up of an interim board to manage the prison system. At the same time, a costs review group is examining the operation of each institution and reporting to the Department of Justice on how costs could be reduced.

The group is chaired by British prison consultant Mr Gordon Lakes. In a report last year to the Government's prisons operating costs review group he proposed that prisoners be categorised according to security risk. Prison chaplains pointed out in a report this year that an 80-year-old prisoner escorted with the same level of security as a 19-year-old violent offender was one of many glaring problems of the system.

The costs of keeping someone in prison is more than £46,000 a year, making the system one of the most expensive in Europe, but the taxpayer is getting poor value for money, with a reconviction rate of prisoners of 70 per cent.

A fifth of the total prisons budget is spent on overtime. The ratio of officers to prisoners is also high, with one officer for every prisoner. The Minister for Justice, Mr O'Donoghue, said earlier this year that he wanted to see that ratio reduced.

The business plan of the Department of Justice's prisons personnel section contains a number of proposals to cut sick leave and overtime. Computerised sick leave reports should be compiled to show officers with more than 60 days' sick leave in the previous four years, the plan states. In each case the prison governor would be consulted and "necessary action, including withdrawal of the privilege of sick leave with pay", would be taken. Prison officers take an average of 17 sick days a year.

The business plan of the Department's prisons personnel section says that circulars sent to prison officers warning about unacceptable levels of sick leave and late attendances have "become targets just below which certain officers set their aim". The circulars should be examined, the plan states, "to see if this unintended outcome can be eliminated".

Prison officers on sick leave and deemed not fit for the full range of duties may be required to "return to work on a restricted basis". Governors would be given the power to withdraw annual pay rises in the case of officers whose attendance record is poor.

Department of Justice officials are also concerned that an "unknown number" of prison officers are claiming disability benefits. "We do not know what disability they are claiming to have (and the Department of Social Welfare won't tell us). We need to know if they are able to fulfil their full operational duties."

The officials propose that a list of all officers receiving disability allowance be given to prison governors, who would "interview the officers and ascertain their fitness for the job".

Measures to improve efficiency in the service have already been agreed by prison officers. The 12.9 per cent pay increase accepted by the Prison Officers' Association last year comes with a number of flexibility measures attached. Its implementation has been held up by negotiations between prison governors and the Government over their recently agreed pay deal, allowing for the implementation of the PCW measures.

These include a time-recording system where officers will clock in and out, including times when they leave on prisoner escorts. They have also agreed to the recruitment of nurses for the prison service and the introduction of civil servant clerical workers.

The agreement also provides for a roll-over method for controlling and allocating overtime. Central Statistics Office figures on public sector earnings show prison officers as the best-paid public servants, earning an average of £675.99 a week. However, these earnings are reduced to £450 a week when overtime is subtracted.

The fact that there have been no suicides in Mountjoy this year, when overcrowding pushed numbers up to more than 770 in a prison built for 500, is a tribute to its prison officers. However, the POA has complained that spiralling numbers have reduced the prison system to warehousing criminals rather than rehabilitating them.

Job satisfaction levels are low, sick leave is high and overtime payments are at their highest. One of the main tasks of the new prisons agency, chaired by Mr Brian McCarthy, a businessman in the financial services sector, will be to look at the bottom line and reduce these.