While it is private companies that escort prisoners to and from court, a prison service official must be there to watch the individual as they are transferred from prison to the van.
If prison officers are on strike then sentenced criminals cannot be taken to prison and those due in court will not be able to leave prison. The BBC’s Home Affairs Correspondent Dominic Casciani said this has serious implications.
“Not all court work will grind to a halt – but many courts and trials will be affected with a massive cost to the public purse”.
Mick Rix, National Officer with trade union GMB warned that the entire law enforcement sector is heading for “a collective nervous breakdown”.
“The Government should convene an urgent summit of trades unions across the law enforcement sector, including prisons, to discuss all the issues of concern, including pay and general matters around morale and the ever decreasing staffing ratios as a result of the rising numbers being dealt with by the sector,” he said.
Two of the country’s biggest prisoner escort firms, Serco and Reliance Secure Task Management, were unavailable for comment during yesterday’s strike.
