Prison Commissioner Hubert Dean is confident he can hand over in a year's time despite the loss of two Acting Assistant Commissioners.

He said Merrill Cann had retired recently while Clyde Wilson has just announced his resignation to study law.

Mr. Dean, who was called out of retirement to work on a succession plan, is due to finish his two-year appointment next summer.

But said he was confident he could step down on schedule despite the loss of top staff.

He said: "It puts me in a bit of a quandary but I do have other people who can step up. We promoted people in February. Ideally we would have liked them to be in the post of chief officer for a bit longer."

Mr. Dean welcomed the planned October arrival of top UK expert Bryan Payling to help with training and succession planning. He said Mr. Payling will bring leadership but was also a humble person.

Mr. Payling has already began training Acting Assistant Commissioner Clarence Davis and chief officer Keeva-Mae Joell-Benjamin.

Two other managers will also get similar training in the UK. Mr. Dean said training and the succession plan would be the main focus for the coming year.

"I won't be continuing after July next year. I am retiring again."