Prison staff stories needed to be told
AS a serving officer of Her Majesty’s Northern Ireland Prison Service, I would like to thank and commend you on the very touching supplement included in your paper (February 10).
The stories included are very real and needed to be told in order for your readership to understand the day-to-day pressures experienced by those working directly with the most dangerous men and women in the modern world.
As indicated by the family members who contributed, it is very clear they too suffered much anxiety.
Often I have heard wives, husbands and children of officers tell how they sat at home not knowing exactly what was going on within the walls of our jails, or how their loved ones were coping, or indeed if they were safe and unharmed.
I can remember well the day when the UVF barricaded us into H One and set fire to the block.
The trouble kicked off at approximately 0900 hours and it wasn’t until well after 1300 hours that we managed to escape to safety, thanks to the bravery of a small number of staff who came to our aid.
Such was the density of the smoke in the circle area of the block that day it was impossible to see any more than 40 feet. Quite a number of officers were physically injured and many more suffered mental trauma.I also remember well the day when Billy was taken hostage and humiliated so terribly by those who called themselves “loyalists”.
I am a loyalist, in the truest sense of the word, loyal to my Queen and Country, as are the many who proudly wore the Crown on their cap of the Northern Ireland Prison Service.
Those individuals who attacked Billy and left him so traumatised are not worthy of the title loyalists. There are many other examples which could be recounted, each one with its own sad ending where the victim and their family found it hard to come to terms with the physical injuries and the mental torture that followed. As a result many marriages broke down and families were left in turmoil.
I am deeply disappointed the Justice Minister made reference to the “fair and adequate exit package” which “allows those who wish to leave the service to do so with dignity and pride”.
No amount of money will ever truly compensate for the injuries, both physical and mental, suffered by the courageous staff of the Prison Service during the hardest years of the Troubles.
Even today, within HMP Maghaberry, staff are still being subjected on a daily basis to threats and intimidation.
I believe quite a few hundred staff will leave under the current exit package arrangements, not because they will do so with a sense of “pride and dignity”, but because they no longer want to work for an organisation which treats them with contempt.
I appeal to those right-thinking politicians at Stormont to never allow the title and badge of Her Majesty’s Northern Ireland Prison Service to be dispensed with.
A Proud Officer
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