of blue 'flu. Now the Prison officers at Westgate are refusing to escort prisoners to court.

This latest action, which will cause inconvenience but will not put the security of the prisons at risk, is symbolic. That does not mean it should not be taken seriously.

The Prison Service has taken its share of criticism over the years and has gained a reputation for ineptitude, with inmates taking buses out of prison, running away from guards in Hamilton and so on.

Many of those problems seem to have been resolved and security standards are now much higher. But it is clear from the many reports that have been written over the years that there are still problems which need to be dealt with to raise the Service's standards.

Prison Officers Association president Lynn Hall points out that Westgate was supposed to have 150 officers on staff, but has never come near that figure.

That has meant that rehabilitation services have been sacrificed and the whole purpose of Westgate -- to cut recidivism -- has failed.

Much of the blame for this can be laid at the feet of the previous Government.

Mr. Hall notes that only one Minister, Clarence Terceira, seemed to take the officers' concerns seriously.

But the current Government made a great deal of political hay out of the problems at Westgate, noting that it cost $60 million which could have been spent on education and so on. Now Westgate is the Progressive Labour Party's problem and it is time put some of its ideas to work.

DRUG-FREE ZONES EDT Drug-free zones Leaving aside the "God made cannabis so it must be good for me'' group for now, drug abuse is one of those issues where it is very easy to take a tough stand and feel good about it.

One of those positions was taken by the previous Government when it introduced increased penalty zones around schools and parks where people caught with drugs faced additional fines from the courts.

This move deserved support as a way to prevent dealers from targeting children and teenagers.

However, the law may be working too well and may also be catching the "wrong'' people.

The case reported on in Friday's paper is one example. A man was caught with an empty crack cocaine pipe early in the morning near a school. Not only was he not selling drugs, there were no schoolchildren nearby.

Certainly the man deserved to be punished for having broken the law, but it is debatable whether he really posed the kind of threat that the penalty zone legislation was designed to counter.

Some people will argue that he should have known the law anyway and kept out of the area altogether.

And to some, the law goes some way to creating "drug-free'' islands within the community. From there, it can be argued, bigger "drug free'' zones can be created until drug sellers have nowhere to go.

But there are addicts in the community who need help, not additional punishment. Some are needlessly ending up in prison because they have been caught in this trap and are unable to pay the increased fines.