Barlinnie Prison which takes prisoners from West Dunbartonshire and prison officers taking lessons to prevent drugs-related deaths.
By Bill Heaney
The Prison Officers Association campaign, 68 is too late, is seeking to end what it sees as the injustice of prison officers being required to work until they are 68 years of age.
This is compared with other uniformed services, such as the police force, fire service and the Armed Forces, which have a normal retirement age of 60.
Labour MSP Pauline McNeill considers that to be “both dangerous and unrealistic”.
And she called on the Scottish and UK governments to enter talks with the Prison Officers Association to discuss how to bring about changes to the retirement rules to provide an option to access their pension at 60 with no financial detriment.
She told MSPs that expecting prison officers to work until almost their seventh decade, at a time when the prisoner population is rising, the average age of a prisoner is 36, violence is increasing and the influence of organised crime is expanding, is unrealistic.
Ms McNeill added: “A retirement age of 68 risks the safety of prisoners, prison officers and the public.
“For successful rehabilitation, prisoners rely on well-trained, motivated and confident officers working in safe and fully-staffed establishments.
“We need to enter talks with the Prison Officers Association to discuss how to bring about changes to the retirement rules to provide an option to access their pension at 60 with no financial detriment.”
Scotland’s Justice Minister Angela Constance and Labour spokesperson Pauiline McNeill MSP.
“In his 2011 review of public sector pensions, Lord Hutton of Furness produced a list of uniformed services that he proposed to protect from the rise in the state pension age to 68.
“He insisted that, historically, the pension age had been lower for the armed forces, the police and firefighters to reflect the unique nature of their work and that, therefore, ‘a pension age of 60 is appropriate’.”
Ms McNeill said: “Prison officers are clearly a uniformed service, but they were unfairly left off that list. If a prison officer fails their annual physical test, they will generally be allowed to retire, but that means that they will not get their full pension. That is hardly fair when police officers and firefighters are able to retire almost a decade earlier.
“Unlike most public sector workers, prison officers cannot go on strike. Given that they are prohibited from taking any form of industrial action, we need to make sure that the Government is not taking advantage of that restriction and underrewarding prison officers.
“I also note that the Prison Service Pay Review Body has continued to raise concern about the pension age, arguing that 68 is “far too old to cope with the physical and mental demands of being an operational frontline prison officer”.
“The retention rate of newly recruited prison officers is very low. Violence, or the threat of violence, is always there. The fact that it is a difficult and unpredictable job should be acknowledged through the retirement age.”
She said that at the start of the year, the head of the Scottish Prison Service, Teresa Medhurst, said that Scotland’s jails were “too full” and that they were reaching a “tipping point”. Overcrowding creates all sorts of pressures inside jails.
Andy Hodge, the governor of Perth prison, has pointed out: “The pressure of population is forcing us to put more people into one room. That’s a real stretch. Two adult men into a room where you’ve got one TV, one kettle, tensions start to build, people start to fall out. Violence amongst the residents starts to go up.”
Pauline McNeill added that prison officers have to deal with the fallout of those increasing pressures and tensions. That is on top of their having to deal with violence directed at them by inmates, said Ms McNeill.
And that another pressure that prison officers have to deal with is the increasing number of prisoners suffering from acute mental health problems.
” There are high levels of self-harm, suicide and drug deaths in our prisons; all are clearly challenging to deal with, and our prison officers are tasked with dealing with such incidents on a daily basis.
Parliament was told that the Prison Officers Association is extremely concerned about the impact of prolonged exposure to such an environment on front-line staff, especially those who are required to continue working until they are 68.
“It has pointed out that relying on prison officers to work until they are 68 results in high levels of sickness and absence rates across the service.”
Ms McNeill said: “Prison officers are critical to the rehabilitation of prisoners, and it is not in the interests of prisons as a whole for members of the prison workforce to feel that they are being unfairly treated compared with workers in other sectors.”
“We all agree that prison officers play a vital role in our justice system, helping to ensure that our prisons are safe, secure and stable environments for all prisoners and staff.
“They are very much hidden in plain sight; they are a hidden part of our criminal justice system and the more that we can do together to show the nature of their challenges and the value of their work to the general population, the better.
“I have taken the opportunity to visit every prison in Scotland and I have seen the dedication, professionalism and engagement of prison officers.
“In my past role as a prison-based social worker, and in my present role as the justice secretary, I have seen them working in a way that is person centred, inclusive, trauma informed and rights based and that makes a difference to people’s lives every day.
“I was struck, but not surprised, by the words of an individual in custody in HMP Greenock, who is quoted in a recent report by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons for Scotland:
‘This prison has been exceptional in helping me through my sentence, all the staff are wonderful and easy to speak with. This is my first time in prison and I have felt supported at each step of the way’.
“The Scottish Government and the Scottish Prison Service recognise that prison officers work in a challenging environment and, at times, put themselves in danger and at risk. We have a high and rising prison population.
“Behind the numbers, as members have accurately reflected, there is increasing complexity, whether that is with the increasing numbers of those in custody with links to serious and organised crime groups, challenges around drugs and psychoactive substances, or the increased demand for social care due to an ageing prison population.
“I very much recognise that prison officers carry out front-line operational duties, including control and restraint, until the state pension age, which is due to rise to 68. That is hugely challenging and carries with it significant stresses and strains.
“The Scottish Prison Service takes the safety and security of its staff extremely seriously. I discuss the matter of staff wellbeing regularly with the SPS. The SPS provides support to staff to remain at work and in meaningful employment when they cannot undertake their full contractual role, including workplace adjustments and redeployment to alternative roles across the organisation.
“Every effort will be made to accommodate requests for a change or adjustment when the request is evidence based. However, that does not in any way detract from the point of principle that prison officers deserve parity with other uniformed services.”
Top of page: Prison officers taking advice and education sessions for drug addicts in jail.