PRISON officers allege that the method of handling promotions at Les Nicolles is biased. Recent appointments to senior and principal officer posts have prompted letters of complaint to the Home Affairs Committee and the Transport and General Workers’ Union.

Prison officers claim a member of the panel had promised the job to one of the successful applicants prior to their interview.

They are angry that they have received no communication from the committee, which was made aware of the problem on 10 February. One officer has now quit.

Union regional organiser Alun Beynon said communication had taken place between the T&G and the committee.

‘There seems to be a history of unhappiness about the manner in which people are promoted at the prison,’ he said.

The committee had indicated that an independent company, Kennedy Robinson, had been asked to carry out a review of the policies, principles and processes relating to the handling of promotions, he said.

But while the company had been asked to take into account the complainants’ concerns, it was not intended that it would investigate details of the recent appointments.

Mr Beynon said he welcomed a review.

‘At the same time, I’m worried about the terms of reference, which should include investigation into the recent appointments,’ he said.

‘The complainants are alleging there was malpractice in the way these appointments were handled.’

Ron Le Cras, union shop steward at the prison, said that members were unhappy with the way the promotions had been dealt with.

The two officers who had complained had the support of many of their colleagues, he added.

‘The staff feel it has been an ﾓif your face fitsﾔ exercise.’

Mr Le Cras was disappointed at the lack of a response from the committee.

‘When Home Affairs had these letters, it should have called the union reps in to talk about it and not left it for two months hoping that it would go away.’

Committee president Mike Torode said it had been communicating with the union’s regional organiser directly since the matter had first been brought to its attention.

The promotion process would be reviewed to see if it met modern ethics of practice, but he said an internal investigation had found ‘absolutely nothing wrong’ with the appointments in question.

‘There has been a suggestion that the promotion process is not reasonable, which is why we have experts looking at it, and we will be guided by them,’ he said.

Kennedy Robinson would carry out the review in conjunction with a senior manager from the UK prison service.