People aware of prison officers engaged in “nefarious activities” should report them, Commissioner of Corrections Edward Lamb insisted.He spoke out after prison officers shared their complaints on a number of work-related issues with The Royal Gazette.High on the list of concerns was that prison officers were accepting cash in exchange for taking prohibited items into jail.Mr Lamb, who has been Prisons Commissioner since 2006, said he has had to dismiss some officers for illicit conduct. He would not state how many.“This is a relentless pursuit,” he said. “If there are officers, or anyone for that matter, who are absolutely certain that others are engaged in nefarious activities as you have stated, I encourage them to have enough courage to report them.“They can be assured that the appropriate disciplinary actions will be taken without any ramifications for them.”The Commissioner was emphatic in his belief that “the vast majority of officers and staff in Corrections are people with high standards of integrity, honour and professionalism”.“They serve this Country every day with dignity, dedication and pride. Like in any organisation however, there will be a minority of people whose personal integrity, work ethics and conduct do not reach the lofty standards we strive to achieve.“Having had to discharge officers over the last few years for various offences relating to illicit conduct, and having had a very public incident wherein an officer was caught smuggling drugs into Westgate for which he was incarcerated, it is clear that we must remain vigilant in monitoring the activities of staff, in addition to visitors.”An officer who is transferred after he files a complaint against a superior “has the right to appeal to the Commissioner”, Mr Lamb stated.“In several instances I have upheld these appeals, whereas in other cases I did not think the appeal had enough merit to overturn the recommendation for transfer.“I am certain this new process is very fair and serves the best interests of the entire department.”But one officer who was dismissed for walking a cellphone into prison fought the case in court, and was subsequently reinstated. The Commissioner said: “It is correct that we dismissed an officer for having a cell phone in Westgate and this is an ongoing legal matter.“To comment any further would be injudicious of me, but it suffices to say that we are intolerant of anyone who engages in illicit conduct, and staff subject themselves to dismissal if caught doing so,” he said.Another officer questioned why equipment disabling cell phone signals hasn’t been put in place in the maximum-security unit at Westgate, which he likened to “the telephone company” because of the high activity.Said Mr Lamb: “We have a range of equipment in our facilities as part of our security operations but in the interest of security, I am reluctant to divulge too many details.”Prison officers who spoke with this newspaper also complained that it had been six years since the Prison Officers Association held an annual general meeting — usually a forum for such issues as salary increases and back pay.Efforts to get a comment from the POA went unanswered.Mr Lamb confirmed officers’ back pay and salaries “remains an item which is actively being negotiated between Government and the POA”.“It remains on the table for resolution, and I remain hopeful that this will be resolved imminently,” he said.