Prison officers deserve support
Thursday November 05 2009
AS always, Tom Brady's recent article about assaults on prison staff by inmates was excellent (Irish Independent, October 26).
That the Irish Prison Service can state that 759 assaults on prison staff is "comparatively low" beggars belief.
This is from people who work in a state-of-the-art office in Longford, far removed from the overcrowded dangerous workplaces that prison officers have to endure every day of their working lives.
What of the human cost of this "comparatively low" rate of assaults? Should we ask the prison officer who has been punched, kicked, stabbed, or held hostage by inmates?
Should we ask the families of the prison officers who see their loved ones damaged by those deemed to be too great a risk to society to remain at liberty?
Should we ask the families of prison officers who are on the breadline because the officials in the nice building in Longford withhold the pay of many prison officers who are unable to work because of injuries sustained in one of these assaults?
Most prison officers have a very reasonable goal: to go to work in one piece and to end the day's work in the same state.
Surely that isn't too much to ask.
Pat Jordan
DUBLIN 7
Irish Independent
