Commissioner of Corrections John Prescod was yesterday accused of telling some staff to break the law - or have pay withheld.

But Director of Public Prosecutions Kulendra Ratneser said Mr. Prescod was doing nothing illegal -- and denied having advised the case workers otherwise.

The accusations were fired by prison case workers who claimed their needs were often overlooked.

They also complained that they needed a backdated pay increase.

Two of the only five case workers in the prison system contacted The Royal Gazette yesterday and said that they represented the entire group. The two explained that Mr. Prescod has ordered them to carry out risk assessments on persons held on remand despite direction they said they received from the Director of Prosecutions (DPP) that such a move would be contrary to the Criminal Code and thus illegal.

But DPP Kulendra Ratneser said last night that he had given no such advice. He said someone had called him and asked the difference between prisoners held on remand and sentenced inmates and he said he gave a simple explanation of the difference.

"They ask one bit of advice and then they interpret it themselves," he said. " All advice from me is written. I would not give my opinion on something like this just over the phone."

Mr. Ratneser further explained that the Criminal Code made it clear that Mr. Prescod was doing what he was charged to do. "There is nothing illegal about what he is doing at all," he said.

On learning Mr. Ratneser's view of the issue, a spokesman for the group last night still insisted that Mr. Prescod's request was in contravention of the Code. He explained that the " qualified professional" referred to in the Act would not be a case worker.

"I wouldn't consider putting my name on a situation like that (a risk assessment of a person held on remand), that is for a psychologist or psychiatrist," he said. "They wouldn't go off a case worker for something like that. We can only give supporting documentation. It's illegal when someone is not at risk."

According to a release from the case workers, they have lodged an appeal of the decision with the Attorney General's office to " uphold the Criminal Code 2000".

"Unfortunately, this will be little consolation to us if our personnel (work) files reflect being disciplined by our supervisor (Prescod) for not complying with a directive even though it is in conflict with the Criminal Code 2000," the release also read.

One of the case workers explained why it was unfair for them to make the assessments.

"In the US a remand would not even part of the prison facility. If they have assessments done, it's done by someone from the court or probation service. If we assess someone and it goes to sway the judge then we still have to work with them once they have been convicted."

In addition to their dissatisfaction with Mr. Prescod over carrying out risk assessments, the case workers also complained that he will not allow them to have a pay increase they have won, applied retroactively.

The group said the Public Service Commission (PSC) have told them that they are entitled to the back pay and must write a formal request to the Commissioner asking the PSC to look at it.

"Prescod and (Brian) Rawlinson (Permanent Secretary for Labour and Home Affairs) refused to do so," the case worker said.

But despite the problems with the Commissioner the case workers said no industrial action was in sight. "We like our job but we are always the scapegoat whenever anything goes wrong," the spokesman said. "There's nothing we can do right now, we are small in numbers. We get overlooked because there are only five of us. We should get some consideration."