Prison Service - Public safety should be top priority

In publishing the bill to privatise the prison escort service yesterday, Justice Minister Michael McDowell seems to be defying his own logic.

His better judgment originally was to desist from publishing it "in order to facilitate negotiations with the Prison Officers Association (POA)", which was a sensible approach.

Those negotiations came to an abrupt end when the prison officers decided to reject the minister's offer which had the backing of their own executive by a decisive two-to-one majority.