Lynn Ruane (Independent) | Oireachtas source

With regard to inspections, we talk a lot about prisoner-on-prisoner incidents but staff-on-prisoner incidents come up very little. I am referring to the activities of prison guards. When I bring up the complaints system within the prison system, many prisoners turn around and say "No". I am surprised there is a backlog because I cannot imagine what the resulting backlog would be if prisoners were empowered to make complaints. There is a culture in which people believe there is no point in making complaints. There is also a culture of fear with regard to making a complaint about one’s progression. Given the dynamic between prisoners and particular prison guards, a prisoner might feel that if he raises an issue concerning his treatment, bullying or the goading of prisoners, a certain guard will get in the way and act as an obstacle to his progression. What oversight is there of conduct? Beyond the structures of the Irish Prison Service, is there a role for the inspectorate regarding the conduct of the prison guards? The prison guards are heavily unionised, and rightly so, but since the union is quite strong, the prison guards seem to comprise a protected bunch within the system in that their role has never been examined aggressively in the context of human rights abuses within the prison system.