carried out this week.

Prison officers reacted with anger after about ten of their colleagues were lined up at the Ferry Reach Prison Farm on February 4 and subjected to a drug search with sniffer dogs. No drugs were found.

A week later, Prison Officers Association chairman Mr. Russell Richardson led 120 members and staff in a march on Parliament. They presented Premier the Hon. Sir John Swan with a petition demanding action.

"Our Constitutional rights were breached,'' Mr. Richardson said.

The Premier then ordered an inquiry, saying it was "only right and proper''.

Mrs. Judy Hall-Bean, a senior officer in the Department of Personnel Services, is expected to conduct interviews today and tomorrow and report to the Health Minister by the middle of March.

Under the inquiry's terms of reference she will: Investigate the events leading up to and during the search; Report on the appropriateness of the search procedures used and the manner in which the search was conducted; and Report on any other related matters that are deemed appropriate. The Health Ministry asked Personnel Services to carry out the inquiry, with the agreement of the Prison Officers Association, a Government spokesman said yesterday. A representative of the association will be present "at most, if not all, of the interviews,'' the spokesman said.