Prison officers are holding a mass meeting today to discuss their frustration at overcrowding in the Island's prisons.

Prison Officers Association (POA) chairman Michael Tuzo said Westgate Correctional Facility and the Prison Farm and are full to bursting point and there is no room for any other inmates.

The POA met Prison Service bosses last week, but management came up with no solutions to the problem, said Mr. Tuzo.

The 200-strong membership of the POA meets at Bermuda Industrial Union headquarters today to discuss the crisis, and Mr. Tuzo said another strike shortly could not be ruled out.

A skeleton staff of prison officers will be kept on to ensure Westgate and Prison Farm are running, but Mr. Tuzo said he did not know who will be escorting inmates to court today.

The Royal Gazette understands Police rotas have been rearranged because of the POA meeting, and Police officers will take prisoners to the busy arraignment session at Supreme Court this morning.

Mr. Tuzo told The Royal Gazette last night: "It is a general meeting of the Association to see if we can resolve the issue of overcrowding.

"We will be leaving prison officers there to ensure the facilities are running.

"We had a meeting with the prison administration earlier last week and they had no resolution, so it is incumbent on us to try to resolve it."

When asked how Westgate would cope if it had to take on any more prisoners, Mr. Tuzo said: "I don't want to say what we will or won't do, but it is a matter we have been looking at and something will have to done.

"We will have to sit down and brainstorm and try to get some sort of resolution."

He said a further strike is "always a possibility. We will try to find out some sort of answer, and it is possible we will look at it (overcrowding) again to try to get some solution."

The prison service was paralysed at the end of April and into May when officers walked out in protest at the failure of controversial Prison Commission John Prescod's to implement the findings of a board on inquiry into the service.

Staff demanded Mr. Prescod - who they feel is autocratic - be sacked, but Government held firm and backed him, although he is supposed to be kept on a tight reign, reporting to the Premier on progress four times a year.

Earlier this month, the POA said morale in the service was at an all-time low, there were a record number of resignations this year, and there continued to be a lack of communication from management.

Officers were so angry at the lack of progress that they embarrassed Government two weeks ago by boycotting a Caribbean and UK Overseas Territories conference on prisons held in Bermuda.

Labour and Home Affairs Minister Randolph Horton said two weeks ago, he had initiated a new review of management in the service and was confident the threat of strike action had been averted.