Prison case workers say professional pride not pay is at the heart of their dispute with Government.

And they are frustrated they have been ignored for two years as they sought to get updated job descriptions after their jobs moved from part time to full time.

They hit out after Home Affairs and Public Safety Minister Terry Lister last week said he was frustrated at the attitude of case workers who were being asked to do full assessments for every prisoner who comes in.

He indicated they were pushing for more pay by raising issues about job descriptions when being asked to do full prisoner assessments.

However the case workers say every inmate was being assessed in the way that Mr. Lister wished, including looking at sex and violence counselling as well as training and vocational needs.

One said: "We have never been opposed to assessing any inmates who are incarcerated at Westgate."

They explained people who had committed sexual crimes were automatically put on sex programmes and other prison staff assessed who needed drug treatment after case workers put forward a list of likely candidates.

The case workers indicated they were not about to take any sort of industrial action but they did want talks on the issues.

"The temporary job description we have is just a fraction of the duties we do."

The caseworkers say they are confused about what Mr. Lister is trying to imply and say he should not have gone to the press without acknowledging their previous correspondence on the dispute.

"We are having to have conversations in public - that is not the right way to do it. Two years is enough. We are only five people."

They claimed the Government's flagship Alternatives to Incarceration policy which places an emphasis on rehabilitation had already added to their workload.

"It's not about pay, it's about having a job description reflecting what we do. If the finances come because of an upgrade then so be it," said one.

Last night Mr. Lister refused to comment about the story.

One case worker said: "The job description was supposed to change, as required by law but it hasn't happened."

The case workers said they were being asked to do in-depth risk assessments without proper guidelines.

"If an inmate leaves and commits an heinous crime I would like to know I did everything I could to prevent that," said one case worker.

She said staff wanted to make more informed decisions.

The case workers said they had written to Mr. Lister and then tried to ring him about the dispute but Assistant Commissioner Randall Woolridge told them they were out of order.

When contacted by The Royal Gazette, Mr. Woolridge, who was Acting Commissioner in John Prescod's absence, refused to comment about the dispute but admitted telling the case workers they were breaking protocol by contacting the Minister directly.

He said they should have gone through their supervisor.

However the case workers say one of the problems they face is there is no senior case worker to go through.

One added: "We also don't have a social worker and haven't for the last year and a half."

Because of this the case workers say they are having to deal with prisoners' discharge plans which is not in their job descriptions.