Prison officers voted to end their strike last night after hammering out a deal which will see unpopular Commissioner John Prescod under strict Government supervision.

Prison officers have been out since Monday in a bid to oust Mr. Prescod whom they accuse of being autocratic and failing to implement most of the recommendations of a 2001 board of inquiry.

Now Mr. Prescod will be forced to carry out every clause with the Premier hosting quarterly progress meetings while Canadian consultant Dr. Morais Wallen will not be hired for training.

Relieved strikers poured out of Bermuda Industrial Union headquarters shortly after 10 p.m. after backing the deal while colleagues still inside exchanged hugs.

Prison Officers Association (POA) chairman Michael Tuzo was not present at the meeting and spokesmen Russ Ford refused to comment.

But a statement released from their lawyer Delroy Duncan said meetings with the Premier and Cabinet had come to this deal:

The Government will not enter into a contractual arrangement with Dr. Wallen over the provision of training services.

A review is ordered of the management of the Department of Corrections which would embrace the Commissioner of Corrections and the senior management staff. The time frame for the implementation of such a review would be jointly agreed.

Those recommendations which remain outstanding following the board of inquiry will be fully implemented.

The Premier will meet quarterly with the executive of the POA to evaluate progress on implementing the recommendations. Such meetings will continue until all are complete.

Steps will be taken to provide the Commissioner of Corrections with localisation training and other assistance to ensure his approach is more in keeping with the accepted norms in Bermuda.

The statement concluded by saying: "Based upon the terms of settlement, in particular the fact that Mr. Prescod's style of management will be the subject of a government review, at approximately 10 p.m. on the first of May 03 the POA voted to return to work at 6.30 a.m. on Friday the second of May 03."

Officers had been campaigning for better appraisal, training, succession planning, career planing, consultation and communication.

For three days officers had defied an injunction forbidding them to strike.

The settlement comes as Government was about to bring in the Regiment as prisoners at Westgate begun to get restless and misbehave, including setting off false alarms.

It is understood Bermuda Regiment Commanding Officer Lt. Col. Edward Lamb, Police Commissioner Jonathan Smith and Mr. Prescod met yesterday to discuss the Regiment moving in to the run the prisons, but this could not be confirmed.

One Regiment source said Support Company and Training Company were put on standby yesterday, meaning more than 150 regiment members were set to be called in to run the prison.

However one source said some of the warrant officers in training wing are also prison officers who if they had been embodied would have been in the embarrassing position of being forced back to work.

On Wednesday, Police were asked if they wanted to do extra shifts at Westgate but Police refused to comment officially on their involvement.

National Liberal Party vice-chairman Graeme Outerbridge said: "It is very odd that the PLP Government, which prides itself with close ties with Bermuda labour, is always in constant dispute with various sectors of the workforce."