Police are investigating an outbreak of violence in which five prison officers were injured by one or more inmates at Westgate Correctional Facility.

Timothy Seon, the chairman of the Prison Officers Association, said the incident on Sunday morning highlighted a wider issue about the safety and security of prison staff.

Mr Seon said officers were attacked after contraband was found on an inmate during a routine search in the maximum security unit at the Sandys facility.

Mr Seon told The Royal Gazette: “The injuries were serious enough for medical treatment at the hospital.

“There was an inspection and an inmate was found to be in possession of contraband. The inmate did not want to give up the contraband.

“The investigation has been handed over to the police.

“For the type of injuries the officers sustained, an internal investigation may not have yielded an adequate punishment so it was decided to take it outside of the organisation.”

The Department of Corrections said the incident occurred during the relocation of an inmate within the facility.

“As a result, five officers sustained injuries and received medical attention. All officers who required hospital care have since been discharged,” a spokesman said.

“The inmate was also transferred to King Edward VII Memorial Hospital for assessment and has since been returned to Westgate. The matter is now under investigation by the Bermuda Police Service.”

Mr Seon warned in December that the department was underfunded and about 100 officers short of its staffing schedule of 244.

He said that changes to the organisational structure at Westgate, proposed by the former Commissioner of Corrections, Lieutenant-Colonel Edward Lamb, were introduced in 2014.

However, he said some had not yet been implemented, including the creation of a specialist search team.

Mr Seon said a specialist team was needed to carry out targeted searches on inmates rather than prison officers, who had to deal with inmates on a day-to-day basis.

He said: “It takes the risk away from us who are managing the inmates every day. The search team was to be part of the Department of Corrections but that never materialised.

“In other jurisdictions there are specialist teams. Bermuda is a close-knit society, the benefit of search teams would be that normally they come in and their identity is not known.

“As an officer you are with the inmates every day facilitating meetings with case managers and phone calls, etc, then intelligence comes in saying the inmate has maybe a knife or a phone and you have to come in and exercise a strip-search.

“There is a lot of angst so you need that buffer. Even if the inmate wants to threaten them, he doesn’t know who it is, their identity can be hidden.

“Here they live in the same neighbourhood as those doing the crimes and they might be threatened.”

Mr Seon said the issue was raised with Kim Wilkerson, the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, during a recent site visit.

He said Ms Wilkerson was looking at whether she could fulfil that request as well as the hiring of a wellness officer at the prison.

The Attorney-General and Minister of Justice responded yesterday to the incident.

“The Ministry of Justice takes the safety and wellbeing of our corrections officers extremely seriously. We are committed to ensuring a secure environment at Westgate and providing officers with the support they need, given the inherently challenging nature of their work.”

Ms Wilkerson acknowledged a recent meeting with prison officers at Devonshire Recreation Club and vowed to follow up.

“These discussions were constructive. They’ve made it clear that while dialogue is appreciated, what matters most is action — and we fully recognise that.

“Our focus now is on taking meaningful steps to address the issues raised.”

Mr Seon believes that special benefits should be afforded to prison officers, perhaps on retirement, given the nature of their work and, in many cases, the injuries they sustain over the course of their careers.

“There are some serious risks behind it,” he said. “I’m also aware there has been a new look towards the mental wellbeing of Public Service workers and I think it is time the Government looks at benefits for people who serve in these capacities.

“There are a lot of officers who sustain injuries and you need medical care. You are suffering in pain from past injuries and assaults, and you are paying out of your pocket. It is high time the Government starts looking at that.”