Private Prisons a good idea for Ireland - Espcially with the Economic Downfall?

This allow officers of the Irish prison service to concentrate primarily on monitoring & policing the general prison population.

It would also prove more cost effective.

Why not pay a newly trained privately contracted prison officer 14.00 euros an hour with a salary cut off point of about 17.00 Eur per hour (unless he/she is given a new position with more duties - team leader/Shift Manager etc)

This would clearly result in a huge saving for the Irish Prison Service & the savings that they would get from what they would usually spend on staff wages could be spent on prisoner rehabilitation, updating facilities & an end to the inhumane practice of "Slopping it out"

Having fully vetted, well trained, licensed, experienced & responsible Police/Garda custody assistants working alongside members of the Gardai in Garda stations or perhaps even central custody suites - particularly in the main cities- would free up the time Gardai (Irish National police) spend dealing with rowdy drunks, processing "clients" & babysitting individuals held in Garda custody.

Obviously a member of the Gardai would remain in the custody area to ensure that prisoner mistreatment/excessive force etc does not occur.

This means that a Garda who arrrests somebody doesn't have to spend hours in the Garda Station processing the individual as a privately hired custody assistant can do this.

The result = More Gardai on the streets & arresting criminals

= A Safer Ireland.