adjourn as the main parties dealt with the current Westgate crisis.

On Saturday night 30 prisoners conducted a two hour sit-in with reports of windows and chairs being smashed.

Prisons Commissioner Edward Dyer said: "Investigations are still going on.'' He confirmed that the lock-down in E-wing, where the disturbance occurred, was continuing and he could give no indication of when the probe would end.

Prison visits and privileges at that unit are being withheld while prison officers search cells.

Shadow Home Affairs Minister Michael Dunkley said Government was suffering the consequences of its own inaction.

And he called for an emergency response team to be assembled to deal with prison revolts.

He said: "They need the materials to deal with an emergency. Most prisons have a team to deal with hot spots.

"A crisis needs a quick response rather than calling all the officers on duty.'' Sit-in delays prisons inquiry He said Government had repeatedly pushed back the prisons inquiry after its initial start date of November last year.

"It's now March and it's still going on. The conviction on behalf of the Minister is lower when the stakes are getting higher.

"Prison officers are thinking they are not being taken seriously. We need to get on with sorting the problems, not just talk about them.

"Prison officers are getting more and more stressed out. They are overworked.

"If the Government had taken action before we would not be in this situation today.'' Last night chairman of the Prisons inquiry, lawyer Ian Kawaley, said he had no idea when the inquiry would end. The hearing was prompted after prison officers took industrial action over chronic overcrowding and staff shortages.

Lawyers from the Government and the Prison Officers started thrashing out the issues late last month.

And Mr. Dunkley said reports that Edwin Wilson -- who works in the Labour and Industrial Relations Department -- was in line for the soon-to-be-vacant Prison Commissioner's post were regrettable because the job needed someone with relevant experience in a successful prison.

Asked if the prison service could take outsiders he said: "What type of experience do they bring to that job? You can't get it working outside the incarceration system.

Last night Mr. Wilson refused to comment. He said: "I don't know anything about it.'' Mr. Dunkley said foreigners on three-year non-renewable contracts were needed to fill the top three posts and help identify Bermudian talent to take over.

He said it would be unfair to promote from within the prison at the moment because officers were working in a failing environment.

The new assistant commissioner should be specifically delegated to sort out prison programmes said Mr. Dunkley.

He said: "The programmes are not working. There is only a handful of case workers and dozens and dozens of cases.

"Prisoners are not getting the attention they need. It's quite easy to lock people up. We need to help them get on the right path.''