State authorities estimate there will be more than 100 assaults by prisoners on staff this year, the Oireachtas justice committee heard yesterday.

Prison officers say inmates are getting involved in the Kinahan-Hutch feud to make a name for themselves, to climb the ladder in the gangs, or because they are being forced to do so.

Prison officers are to raise concerns over safety with the Minister for Justice after three officers were injured in two separate incidents in the Midlands Prison yesterday.

The country should have a dedicated “gangland prison” to house convicted crime bosses, according to prison officers.

More than a third of total pay to prison officers is made up of a “plethora” of allowances, the head of the Department of Justice has said.

Powerful prison gangs and mischievous inmates could paralyse the Irish Prison Service by abusing new complaints procedures to be introduced in October, the Irish Prison Officers’ Association (IPOA) have claimed.

Prison chiefs are struggling to deal with as many as 22 criminal factions in individual jails — but reject claims by prison officers they are losing control to gangs.

A SENIOR leader in one of the country’s most feared criminal gangs has been arrested while trailing a prison van.

PRISON officers and gardaí are on average the best paid public servants according to statistics released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

THE mounting overcrowding problem in Irish prisons looks set to continue following official indications that the planned superprison at Thornton Hall will be delayed well beyond 2011.

A PRISON officer in his late 40s was attacked and then “repeatedly pummelled” as he lay semi-conscious on a landing of a wing in Cork prison yesterday.

A prison officer suffered head and facial injuries today when he was attacked by an inmate at Cork Prison.

Two separate investigations were launched today into a riot that broke out in Dublin’s Mountjoy Prison.

PRISON officers and chaplains working in Wheatfield believe the good work in the prison is being seriously jeopardised by a growing overcrowding problem.

VIOLENT prisoners need to be segregated urgently from other inmates to limit their grip inside jails, prison officers said yesterday.

PRISON officers are planning further work stoppages at jails across the country in the continuing row over clocking-in arrangements.

Prison officers are planning further work stoppages at jails across the country in the continuing row over clocking-in arrangements.

Approximately 300 prison officers at Mountjoy Prison in Dublin have left their posts and are protesting at the prison’s entrance.

Tributes were paid today to the Inspector of Prisons, Mr Justice Dermot Kinlen, who died at his Kerry home.

THE horrific killing of a prisoner in Mountjoy could easily be repeated in Cork if the jail’s chronic overcrowding is not addressed, it was warned yesterday.

PRISONERS in Mountjoy have signed a petition to complain about conditions in the jail which they hope to pass on to prison authorities.

The deadline for prison officers to accept a final pay deal offer has been extended for another 24 hours, it emerged tonight.

PRISON officers meet this morning to set out a schedule for discussion of a last-chance offer from Justice Minister Michael McDowell to avoid strike action.

JUSTICE Minister Michael McDowell last night threatened to privatise new jails unless prison officers accept his pay offer within 10 days.

Justice Minister Michael McDowell tonight gave prison officers 10 days to accept a final pay deal offer before the partial privatisation of the service begins.

JUSTICE Minister Michael McDowell has admitted he had misgivings about what he described as the “extremely generous” deal offered to prison officers to solve the long-running overtime dispute.

FOUR prison officers were injured, and one had to be taken to hospital, following a disturbance at a prison yesterday.

HUNDREDS of prison officers and inmates will be transferred within weeks under plans announced by the Government yesterday.

TWO State prisons in Cork and Kildare will close their doors tomorrow after last-minute talks to resolve the impasse over prison officer’s overtime pay broke down in failure last night.

PRISON officers are becoming increasingly confused by Justice Minister Michael McDowell’s jail reform plans and wish he would bring them up to speed on his proposals.

PLANS to close the State’s two remaining open prisons were criticised yesterday.

A RADICAL plan to close jails and privatise part of the Prison Service is being drawn up to cut the €60m overtime bill.

PRISON staff have not yet been officially offered a deal aimed at replacing overtime, on the day the deadline expired for agreement between officers and management.

A PRISON officer at a strike-hit jail has been admitted to psychiatric hospital after being bullied and harassed at work, it has been claimed.

MINISTER for Justice Michael McDowell will tell prison officers today that their soaring overtime payments are to end.

YOUNG offenders coming off drugs and nearing the end of their sentences face being thrown in with the general prison population following the closure of the State’s only open facility for youths, the Justice Minister has been warned.

Prison officers have said they are utterly opposed to Minister for Justice Micheal McDowell closing an open centre for young offenders

Gardai say a device placed outside the home of a prison officer in Co Clare was a hoax.