Remarks made about the Isle of Man Prison governor at a union’s annual conference were ‘inaccurate and personal’, Home Affairs bosses insist.

Prison Officers’ Association national chairman Mark Fairhurst made his disparaging comments in an opening address to the conference in Eastbourne.

He told delegates that Control and Restraint (CNR) instructors at the Jurby jail had resigned ‘en masse’, halting refresher and new recruit training.

Mr Fairhurst claimed the committee had fallen out with prison governor Leroy Bonnick, ‘which, if you'd ever met the man, is not a difficult thing to do’.

He added: ‘So the CNR instructors decided “we've had enough of this” and all resigned en masse. Well, the volunteers, unless you're going to pay me to do it, don't have to do it.

‘So that left the Isle of Man in a quandary, didn't it? Now they've got no instructors. Can't put on refresher training, can't train new recruits.’

Mr Fairhust claimed there had been a number of attempts by the prison to secure external training support from Northern Ireland, Jersey and a private firm, but these had come to nothing after the POA intervened.

The union leader insisted that all the CNR instructors wanted was ‘to have the issues resolved, to be heard and to be respected’.

He said he had visited the Isle of Man Prison and had met the governor and members from the Manx government, following which there had been an agreement to go to mediation.

But Mr Fairhurst said the prison had then made an approach to the directors of private firm NTRG who agreed to send staff to provide training - until he had made a call to the employer and the ‘kibosh’ had been put on that idea.

Subsequently an approach was made to the POA in Jersey and that was also halted after they contacted him.

He concluded: ‘It just proves two things. One, don't have to be a volunteer. And two, unity is our strength. So well done Isle of Man, and I hope you resolve it. And well as for you, governor, who knows.’

A spokesperson for the Department of Home Affairs said: ‘The department is disappointed the situation has been misrepresented in such a public forum, with inaccurate and personal comments made by the POA

‘The department is committed to ensuring that a robust training regime is in place to keep officers, prisoners and visitors safe.

‘We have been working with the POA to achieve this through mediation. It is and always has been our intention to deliver training internally. This takes time to ensure it is provided safely with appropriate protections in place.

‘In the short term, we are still responsible for ensuring prison officers' training is kept up to date. To address this gap, we have been investigating the use of external providers to train our officers in the interim.’

The POA’s annual conference was held at Eastbourne’s Winter Garden between May 13 and 15.