Prison Service overtime bill nears $922M

The Prison Ser­vice paid $773.6 mil­lion in over­time be­tween 2016 and 2026, while a fur­ther $148 mil­lion was re­port­ed out­stand­ing to prison of­fi­cers.

The fig­ures were re­leased in re­sponse to a Free­dom of In­for­ma­tion Act re­quest from at­tor­ney-at-law Keron Ramkha­lawan. The re­sponse, dat­ed Oc­to­ber 20, 2026, puts the un­paid over­time at ap­prox­i­mate­ly $148 mil­lion as of Au­gust 27. If those claims are sep­a­rate from pay­ments al­ready record­ed, the to­tal is ap­prox­i­mate­ly $921.6 mil­lion. The Prison Ser­vice has not con­firmed whether the fig­ures over­lap.

The high­est pay­ment was $159.8 mil­lion in 2023, up $110.9 mil­lion from 2022. Pay­ments fell to $51.5 mil­lion in 2024 and rose to $62.4 mil­lion in 2025. The FOIA re­sponse lists $57.4 mil­lion for 2026 but does not spec­i­fy the pe­ri­od cov­ered. The next-high­est fig­ure was $79.9 mil­lion in 2020; the low­est was $46.5 mil­lion in 2021.