A new facility to house "civilian'' prisoners is to open next week in a bid to alleviate the pressure on Westgate prison.

In addition, more Prison Officers will be brought in, including retired officers, as the Government tries to head off the threat of legal action by the Prison Officers' Association.

Labour and Home Affairs Minister Paula Cox announced the move yesterday after being threatened with legal action by officers over conditions in correctional facilities.

Ms Cox said she was surprised by the possibility of legal action, after having several communications with the association over the problems in the last week.

"We have in good faith appraised the Prison Officers' Association of our efforts to address their concerns and as recently as Wednesday, in response to a request from the Association, confirmed in writing Government's commitment to work tirelessly to address all of the Association's concerns,'' Ms Cox said.

She announced that 12 Prison Officer posts would be converted to permanent, and a dozen new officers would be in position by early next year.

As soon as next week, a building currently used for the training of officers at Westgate would be opened to take 24 civil prisoners -- to be manned by retired officers.

And in the future, she said, civil prisoners -- those in for non-payment of child support -- would be accommodated in the "alternatives to incarceration'' programme.

Civil offenders facility to open "The overcrowding has been exacerbated of late by the imprisonment of significant numbers of civil prisoners,'' she said.

"Some might argue that the non-imprisonment of such individuals would be an easy fix to the overcrowding. It is important to note that the judiciary has enjoyed significant success in reducing the level of outstanding child support payments.

"Additionally, the Government has no authority to interfere with the administration of justice.'' The Prison Officers' Association demanded Government address concerns over violence, overcrowding, staffing levels, working hours and the need for drug detection techniques.

The association wants an increase in the number of officers by at least 20, more cash to improve security at Westgate and the implementation of a drug policy, with testing equipment and the introduction of legislation to allow the testing of inmates.

Ms Cox said under the current efforts to solve the problems, it was "was untenable for the current industrial action to continue any longer''.

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