yesterday afternoon to protest the reintroduction of certain rules at the prison.

And the action prompted one prison officer to speak out as he was concerned that he and his colleagues were in danger.

The inmates returned to their cells after a few hours, without having to be forced by officers, Health and Social Services Minister Clarence Terceira told The Royal Gazette .

The remand area holds 32 inmates but not all of the prisoners chose not to get involved, he added.

A large portion of the inmates now on remand are awaiting trial after being nabbed in Operation Cleansweep, noted Dr. Terceira.

In August, they staged an overnight sit-in to protest the way they were being treated by the judicial system which had denied them bail.

Dr. Terceira said the dispute started when prison officers decided to enforce regulations in the remand area of the prison following a similar sit down at the facility a few weeks ago.

"The prison officers plan to reinstitute the general rules pertaining to that area and allow inmates out of their cells for about three hours each day for exercise and recreation. They were objecting to that.'' Before, he continued, the prison officers were allowing the inmates on remand to roam within their cell area during the day.

"The officers will maintain the basic method of letting the prisoners out for three hours a day. They will not allow them to roam all day. They did not respect it so we will go back to what the normal treatment was.'' Dr. Terceira said the inmates had been rude to prison officers and had broken certain rules so it was time to show them that they did not run the prison.

The prison officer -- who asked to remain nameless -- said the sit-in was "an act of mutiny''.

He said the rules prison authorities wished to reintroduce would make the remand area safer for officers.

"The changes mean these guys will be kept locked down and not be allowed as much freedom as they had in the past.

"We want to run the prison decently and to do this we need to keep the remand area clear so if anything does happen we can deal with it easily. We are trying to get things back in order but the inmates will not accept it.'' The officer warned: "I am very concerned about this matter. Sooner or later, officers will get hurt or inmates will get severely hurt.

"I am very concerned about the guys I work with. What's going to happen if they refuse to go back in their cells again? If we allow them to stay out, then we're only falling back to their demands.

"This is not a playground, this is a prison. What if they decide to go on a rampage? How are we going to deal with these guys? I have children. Who's going to take care of them if anything happens to me?'' Despite the dangers associated with the job, continued the officer, prison staff were not being trained to deal with eventualities.

"What happens if we have to go in there and force these guys to go back in their cells. We have no personal response team and a lot of the officers don't have any experience in this.

"They have promised to train us and they said they would bring in a response team but it hasn't happened.''