the facility has revealed.

"They might as well give the inmates a set of keys and tell them to run the prison themselves,'' said a frustrated prison officer, who asked not to be named as he feared repercussions from prison officials he called corrupt.

Prison officials had been told about the situation, he said, but "nothing is being done which is why I'm talking to you''.

He said inmates left the facility and attended sessions -- "they've been seen at Clayhouse'' -- or jumped a wall and visited the neighbouring Co-ed Facility.

On one occasion, he continued, prisoner Kenneth (Eggs) Smith was found lying in his room with a gash in his head and broken toes during a late night check.

"Earlier in the evening he had been fine,'' said the officer. "So how do you think he did that?'' "He fell down climbing over the wall on his way to the girls prison -- that's how.

"Suppose he got out and did something dangerous -- perhaps hurt somebody -- they (senior officers) know what he did but they're going to wait until he does it again.'' Smith -- who broke out of Casemates prison four times -- was sentenced in 1984 to 15 years for a string of burglaries in the Paget area, committed only a year after being released from a seven-year stretch for rape and burglary.

The officer said inmates were able to get out because they were allowed to keep tools in their rooms -- like hammers, screwdrivers and even knives -- and their minimum security rooms were not locked and had no bars on the windows.

And he said officers felt: "Why take them (the tools) away from the prisoners when the guy above you gives them right back? "We can't punish them because we don't get any support from up top.'' The officer continued: "But if I'm working and an inmate goes missing then I'll lose my job and this is what disgusts a lot of officers.'' He said inmates slipped out in between checks by the guards and returned before the guards came around again. Holes had been found cut in the prison fence.

One problem was that there were only two prison officers on duty at the facility between 10 p.m. and 6.30 a.m. They were responsible for more than 70 inmates.

Officers were worried these tools could be used as weapons as well, he added.

"We have no protection from them because its a minimum security prison. All we have is a whistle yet some inmates work with machetes.'' There were also many young men who "don't give a s--t'', he continued.

He added: "There are always confrontations and they could take over the jail anytime they wanted to. Someone will get hurt if it stays like this.'' "Everyone thinks it's all roses in prison but it's just a matter of time before something happens.

"Everything is fine until something goes wrong, that's how I look at it.'' He said officers were ready to take matters into their own hands.

"If someone raises a hand to me, I'm gonna' take him before he takes me -- that's what several of us feel now.'' The man said there was another case where an inmate cussed at an officer and threatened to kill him.

The officer lodged an official complaint to the acting chief officer who ignored it and gave the inmate home visitation rights the very same day.

"So the inmates learn that if they do bad they will be rewarded -- they have more rights than officers.'' Acting Health and Safety Minister Quinton Edness said at the weekend he would be unable to respond to the officer's claims until he had spoken to prison authorities.