Earlier this morning, a VB reader got in touch to tell us that Barry Greenberry, the Governor who oversaw all three Isle of Wight prison sites, had resigned.
We understand from an unofficial source that he’s has taken up a position with private security company, Group 4S.
We contacted Ian Young, previously the Deputy Governor, who we understand has now taken the helm after the departure for a comment, but at the time of publishing he hasn’t responded.
Concerns if privatised
We spoke to Colin Moses, National Chairman of the POA to get a comment.
He told VB, “We have concerns that these people cross over to the private sector. What secrets have they taken with them on how to run successful public sector prisons? If the private sector would come in to the prisons on the Isle of Wight to privatise them, what information would this man have?”
Two-week inspection just ended
Yesterday, the two week-long inspection by the HM Inspectorate of Prisons concluded.
A spokesperson from the Inspectorate told us it was a big inspection, being that in effectively encompassed three prisons. The report will be very detailed and take about three to four months to complete.
Senior management already briefed
The senior management of the prison have already been briefed on the outline of the Inspector’s findings.
Unofficial sources who have spoken to VentnorBlog tell us that they understand that the report contains good prisoner/staff relationships, but the negative side, report problems with drugs at Camp Hill. When we asked HM Inspectorate, they declined to comment.
We’ve contacted the Government department responsible for the prisons and Ian Young and are awaiting their reply.
UPDATE 12:13 18.Oct.2010: We got a statement a Prison Service spokesperson late Friday afternoon:
“We can confirm that Barry Greenberry,Governor of the Isle of Wight prison cluster, resigned on Friday 15 October. The National Offender Management Service would like to thank him for his contribution to the Prison Service especially since Parkhurst, Albany and Camp Hill prisons were clustered into HMP Isle of Wight in April 2009.
“The process to recruit Barry Greenberry’s long-term replacement is already in progress.”
