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This is the Prison
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There are currently 55 inmates, of which 51 are males and 4 are females. The current approved complement of prison officers is 31. There are presently 29 officers in position of which 7 are male Senior Officers, 16 are Basic grade Prison Officers (of which 15 are males and 1 is a female) and 6 Operational Support grades (of which 5 are males and 1 is female). This indicates that there is currently 1 vacancy. One post is uncovered because the holder in interdicted pending criminal proceedings against him. There have been some occasions on which a prison wing has been without a dedicated prison officer, but on such occasions the wing is monitored by the Officer in the Control Room who has line of sight into the wing, and CCTV cameras. The Government does not believe that there are undermanning issues at the prison, beyond the need to fill vacancies as they arise. The House will be aware that manning levels are higher now than they were in 1996, when no unmanning of wing was thought to be a problem. The Government has agreed to a recent request by the Union Unite to meet to discuss such issues. The Government is always open to hear representations from the Union, and to consider any justified case that they may put. However, the Government will also wish to discuss the inordinately high incidence of absenteeism among some officers in the prison, which does contribute to pressure on their colleagues.
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