Absenteeism at Midlands Prison in Portlaoise highlighted in European report on Irish jails

The impact of absenteeism at the Midlands Prison in Portlaoise and other jails and a big rise prison escorts are highlighted in a new report on Irish jails.

The seventh report on Ireland from the Council of Europe Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Degrading Treatment addresses issues involving prison staff. 

It says the Irish Prison Service (IPS) has comparatively one of the more favourable staffing to prisoner ratios among Council of Europe member States with were 2,547.8 FTE prison officers which is roughly a ratio of 1.5 inmates per custody officer.

There were 342 work training officers (WTOs) responsible for supervising workshops and vocational training but who were also deployed, at times, to cover other prison officer duties.

"In spite of this seemingly positive staffing complement, prisons in Ireland often find that they are unable to operate with a full complement of prison officers which results in certain activities having to be cancelled or access to health care and other services being delayed or prisoners spending longer periods locked up in their cells.

"This problem is notably acute at the end of each quarter of the year as the agreement for an annualised hours system (negotiated between the Prison Officers’ Association (POA) and the IPS) only allows for a certain amount of overtime pay for officers.

"The underlying reason for the staff shortages lies in the massive increase in staff resources required for escort purposes.

"For example, at Cork Prison, 11,000 escorts were budgeted for the year but 36,000 were required so the management must draw on prison officers carrying out other duties in the prison to run escorts.

"At Midlands Prison, a similar picture was painted with escorts rising by 220% in the past five years. In addition, there is a daily absence rate of staff throughout the prison system which impacts the running of the prisons. For example, at Midlands Prison, there is on average an absenteeism rate of 15-25 staff for a daily complement of 156 work training and prison officers; on the day of the visit, staffing numbers were 45 below the scheduled complement," it says.

The report adds that the IPS has attempted to mitigate the impact of reduced staffing levels by requiring each prison to draw up a Regime Management Plan which identifies the priority services within a prison that should be kept open when staff numbers fall below their scheduled levels.

"This is a necessary tool to manage such scenarios. Further, initiatives have been agreed with the POA to enable certain activities such as the supervision of outdoor exercise yards to be carried out with fewer staff. 

"However, it is evident that additional measures are required to ensure that prisons operate full regimes with activities and services not being hampered by staff shortages," it says. 

The CPT wants to be kept informed about the measures being taken to address the increasing burden of escorts on prison-based staff and to tackle absenteeism rates among prison staff.