THE government is gambling with public safety by privatising night-time probation hostel staff, unions warned today.
Starting last week, private companies Sodexo and OCS are jointly running night-time supervision in probation hostels with the National Probation Service, which previously ran the service alone.
As a result of the privatisation of the service, half the night staff have now been transferred to the two private companies.
Long-term underfunding and state neglect, while simultaneously probation services have been undermined, have intensified the prison crises, argues SOLOMON HUGHES
With the agitated debate now raging in the media about the early release schemes, Prison Officers Association general secretary STEVE GILLAN gives the view of those who work in the sector
