McDowell to change prison officers' work practices to reduce overtime

JUSTICE Minister Michael McDowell is to change prison officers’ work practices as part of a major drive to cut soaring overtime payments.

The €55m bill for prison overtime in 2001 resulted in some officers getting paid more than €80,000 a year.

It is expected that a package of measures, including changes to the way prison officers are paid and compensation for changes in work patterns, will be put on the table within weeks.

The Prison Officers’ Association points out, however, that much of the overtime worked is compulsory, with some officers forced to work up to 70 hours a week. Prison staff also say they are chronically understaffed and have not been able to keep pace with the 50% increase in the prison population since 1995.

The changes are on foot of a recommendation by the Irish Prison Service, which was commissioned to draw up alternative working arrangements for the management of prisons and places of detention.

All sides are to be consulted over the proposals and the Prison Officers’ Association is expected to ballot members on the package of reforms. Mr McDowell’s approach to overtime appears to be more conciliatory than his predecessor, John O’Donoghue, who accused officers of developing a “culture of overtime.”

Instead of taking on officers, Mr McDowell accepted that overtime has been high because staffing levels in prisons are inadequate to meet the needs of the service.

The planned changes are believed to contain a system where working hours for the full year would be agreed in advance. Officers would also be paid a set amount on a monthly basis based on their new annual salary, irrespective of the hours they worked during that period. It is also expected that compensation would be available to officers for signing up to the new working arrangements.

Prison Officers’ Association deputy general secretary Eugene Dennehy said prison officers would like to work normal hours, but injuries and under-staffing meant there were more than 50,000 cases of forced overtime last year.

The change in work practices comes after a particularly violent period in prisons. A number of assaults, which included one officer being scalded, took place over Christmas. Mr Dennehy says this reflects a dramatic upward spiral in the number of assaults on prison officers. Between 1998 and 2001, there was a 51% hike in serious prison assaults, say the Criminal Injuries Compensation Tribunal.