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The Prison Of­fi­cers As­so­ci­a­tion has warned that its mem­bers may have to re­con­sid­er their sta­tus as an es­sen­tial ser­vice, in­clud­ing the pos­si­bil­i­ty of strike ac­tion, as mount­ing health, safe­ty, and fi­nan­cial is­sues con­tin­ue to af­fect the ser­vice.

Speak­ing at a press con­fer­ence at the As­so­ci­a­tion’s head of­fice, Pres­i­dent Ger­ard Gor­don ex­pressed se­ri­ous con­cerns over the pro­vi­sion of free med­ical care for of­fi­cers. He re­vealed that 15 of­fi­cers died last year, while 25 ac­tive of­fi­cers passed away in 2024, re­flect­ing what he de­scribed as a deep­er cri­sis im­pact­ing the health, well­be­ing, and longevi­ty of prison staff.

“All of this is work­ing to­geth­er to short­en the life of a prison of­fi­cer,” he said.