Bullying within prisons being ignored - POA

Bullying and harassment within prisons is being ignored by the Prison Service, delegates at a conference were told today.

During their annual conference of the Prison Officers Association (POA) in Killarney, the president of the union, Gabriel Keaveny, called bullying and harassment "major issues" for prison officers.

Mr Keaveny accused the Prison Service of refusing to adopt the Dignity at Work Charter, and he added that the Department of Justice should be leading the way on the issue - and not ignoring it.

"The civil service document [anti-harassment policy] has recently been revised and updated and has been produced in partnership with the staff unions - but of course this document is not acceptable to senior management in the prison service - they want to do things differently - I wonder why?" Mr Keaveny asked.

He called on the Minister for Justice to instigate an independent assessment of the levels of bullying and harassment in Irish prisons.

Earlier, it emerged that hundreds of prison officers in the State's jails have been disciplined for abusing sick-leave rules following a management crackdown.

According to papers produced yesterday by Minister for Finance Brian Cowen to the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee more than 10 per cent of the 3,000 officers employed in Irish jails were reprimanded in some fashion for sick-leave abuses last year.

Delegates at the conference also voted to challenge the non-appliance of the smoking ban in prisons as they feel they are being discriminated against.

According to the POA, the constitution states that no citizen should be discriminated against, but delegates say this is what is happening as a result of the smoking ban derogation in prisons.