The Tribune

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

PRISON Staff Association officials will meet government officials on Friday in the hope of resolving long-standing structural issues at Her Majesty’s Prison, PSA president Sergeant Gregory Archer said yesterday.

The meeting comes a week after half of the prison officers at Fox Hill failed to report for work as they await action from the government over the unsanitary state of the prison and the resulting health implications.

While officers have resumed work as normal for the time being, Mr Archer said a plan of action is being prepared if their desires are not granted on Friday.

He declined to discuss what those actions might be.

“I gave my word that we would meet them before doing anything,” he said.

Describing conditions at the prison last week, Mr Archer said: “Officers are escorting inmates to court and then discovering that the inmates have tuberculosis (TB). We need the facility to be cleaned up and we insist that it can be done by the staff and the inmates without the assistance of an outside contractor.”

“We have the manpower and the inmates. The officers can do their jobs, but they are tired of working in such an unhealthy environment.”

Sgt Scott Williams, vice president of the PSA, said that whenever officials speak with anyone from the government, they are told that “budgetary constraints” are to blame for why nothing can be done at the facility.

However, noting the planned $20m budget for the new National Security building on JFK, Mr Williams said it is clear the government does not want to find the money to take care of the workers or the inmates at Her Majesty’s Prison.