A PRISON officer who fractured his ankle during a training course on how to control violent prisoners has been awarded £23,000 in damages. Making the award in Cork Circuit Court yesterday, Judge A.G. Murphy said the course should have used experienced instructors to act as prisoners rather than the prison officers themselves in the simulated violent situation.
Mr Brendan Dowd had sued the Minister for Justice for damages following an injury when attending a control and restraint training course run by the Department at Ballincollig Army barracks gym on July 4th, 1994.
Mr Dowd told the court he was one of 14 officers attending the course under prison officers Mr Jim Collins and Ms Theresa McCormack. He was in a group of four participating in a simulated exercise to bring a violent prisoner under control.
He was part of a three person squad which included prison officers Ms Collette Madden and Mr Stephen Tobin. Their task was to disarm prison officer Mr Ben O'Connell who was playing a prisoner armed with a stick.
Ms Madden had a shield and forming the apex of a triangle with the two other officers, she was to advance on Mr O'Connell who was waving the stick. When she had advanced on the prisoner, Mr Tobin and he were to disarm and armlock him, Mr Dowd said.
The whole exercise was taking place on four gym mats but as they tried to put armlocks on Mr O'Connell, all four of them fell. The other officers landed on him and his ankle fractured.
He had to have pins and screws inserted and was out of work for five months. The ankle has remained weak and he is no longer able to perform certain duties involving long standing and was also forced to give up doing overtime.
A witness, Mr Maurice Healy, said the prisoner officers had a grip on "the prisoner but they all fell, with the other three landing on Mr Dowd. He heard a crack and it later transpired Mr Dowd had suffered an ankle fracture.
Mr O'Connell told the court that he was given a stick with which to attack the other officers as violently as possible. "I had a free hand to do what I wanted." He never heard any mention of the exercise being done in "passive mode".
Mr Anthony Brennan, a consulting engineer, said he believed the instructors should have played the prisoner themselves rather than using a prison officer who was doing the course for the first, time and had no experience of being a prisoner.
The Minister for Justice, the course instructor Mr Collins, said all officers had been told before the exercises that they were to be done in passive mode. The prisoner with the stick was told to strike the shield but not to over react, he said.
He was watching the exercise when the team moved to disarm Mr O'Connell. They were struggling when he heard a click and Mr Dowd shouted out and went down. He did not see any officer fall on Mr Dowd.
Judge Murphy said Mr Brennan had made an important point when he said that the part of the prisoner should have been played by an experienced instructor, as the prison officers were liable to misinterpret verbal instructions.
"I am quite satisfied that Mr O'Connell, in acting the part of a prisoner, was doing his vigorous best. I am sure he was not doing anything wrong but this was the first time these people were trying this.
"It seems to me an instructor should act as a prisoner initially at least, so that he can call the shots and decide the amount of violence to simulate ... and I think the system fails in that regard," he said.
Judge Murphy said he believed the State had responsibility for that failing and he awarded Mr Dowd £13,500 in general damages and £9,500 in special damages.