PRISON officers meeting at Mountjoy prison in Dublin last night called for special protection from the six men who took a group of officers hostage at the jail last week.
About 400 officers attended last night's meeting. They demanded "that within four weeks, the Department of Justice set up a special regime for the six prisoners. The meeting agreed to propose that the six should be the first "category A" prisoners requiring special treatment. The category might later be extended to other prisoners considered violent.
The details of the "special regime" being sought have yet to be determined, but the officers called for "barrier methods which would ensure that these six prisoners would never again harm a prison officer or take a hostage", said the Prison Officers' Association spokesman, Mr Tom Hoare.
The "barrier" methods used in other states are to be examined before final proposals are drawn up. They range from simply handcuffing prisoners when they are out of the cells, to creating special sections within prisons which are screened off from the rest of the building. Doors between cells and recreation areas could be operated automatically so that prison officers would never have to come into contact with dangerous prisoners.
While some union members were expected to call for a vote of no confidence in the prison Governor, Mr John Lonergan, no such vote was proposed at the meeting.