ONE IN EVERY THREE PERSONS who entered Glendairy Prisons went back at some stage in their lives because of the general failure to prepare them for re-entry into society.

And according to the prison's deputy boss, rehabilitation efforts there were frustrated by senior prison officers' resistance to change.

David Broomes, the Acting Assistant Superintendent of Prisons, made this declaration yesterday to a Commission of Inquiry.

He said a number of veteran warders still believed prison was a place for punishment of criminals and not for them to be educated.

"There remains a high level of non-acceptance of the prison's proposed rehab programme," Broomes testified. "And if there were some prison officers who appeared to be supportive of rehabilitation, they were deemed as the enemyby the older officers.

"A lot of the staff was very resistant to change. They felt these people were there to be punished, but there was still a feeling by the superintendent they should be educated and properly prepared to go back into society," the No. 2 man testified.

He said Acting Superintendent Lieutenant-Colonel John Nurse also felt warders needed to be equally trained so as to be part of the rehabilitation process.

"But some prison officers were not comfortable with having to go back into the classroom. Many felt that because of their lack of qualifications they would be considered inferior."

According to Broomes, Nurse worked feverishly to make sure unqualified warders became qualified.

"The superintendent saw the need for this training so the officers could see the benefits of moving from a punitive only system to one of full rehabilitation."

When questioned Broomes revealed the numbers regarding recidivism were prepared by criminologist Kim Ramsay, who had a one-year contract at the prison.