ACTING SUPERINTENDENT OF PRISONS Lieutenant-Colonel John Nurse wanted inmates of Glendairy Prisons to be treated with humanity and dignity.

But according to the senior officer who was third in command two years ago, it was such treatment that led to prisoners feeling they had become "untouchable".

That claim was made yesterday by Cedric Moore, who was Glendairy's Acting Chief Officer when revolting prisoners burnt down the prison.

Moore was the 48th witness to give testimony on Day 23 of a Commission of Inquiry being held at the Garfield Sobers Sports Complex.

Moore said that no statement policy had been put in writing regarding exactly how prisoners should be treated with humanity and dignity, but that inmates always reverted to it when approached by warders seeking to instil discipline.

According to Moore, Nurse had gone as far as creating a no-shouting policy, where prison officers were urged not to raise their voices when dealing with difficult inmates, yet the prison boss still made it a habit of shouting at his staff when he thought they had done something wrong.

Moore, who is now the Acting Assistant Chief Officer, said a number of warders had serious problems with the way Nurse ran things.

They were against having to have their bags and food go through an electric scanner at the prison's front gate. They were against Nurse's decision to introduce the post of duty managers, where supervisory staff were given increased responsibilities, and even had to visit the prison on their off-days. They were also against Nurse coming to the prison and making wholesale changes.

"Many of them (prison officers) felt that if something wasn't broken, there was no need to fix it," Moore told the commission.

He said warders were especially against Nurse's restructuring, since becoming duty managers meant more responsibilities, but did not come with a raise in pay.

According to the Assistant Chief Officer, the issue had been raised at a meeting for senior staff with the prison boss, who told the supervisors inmates had misinterpreted what he said to them.

Moore said he indicated this to warders on an individual basis, but inmates were not told that how they felt was actually a misinterpretation of what the Acting Superintendent had said.