JURATS are not the right people to ensure that La Moye prison is being run effectively and that prisoners are being treated well, an ex-prison investigator has said.

Robin Pittman, who was a member of an independent monitoring board (IMB) in the UK, said that some of the reports of the Board of Visitors had shown ‘complacency’ and the Island needed its own independent body instead.

He said that whenever the board, made up of three senior Jurats, visit the prison they are not given keys, have to have a member of staff there, and are not present during major incidents.

All of these things run counter to the law in the UK.

Mr Pittman, who now lives in Jersey, wants to see the Island set up its own IMB, made up of lay people, which would ensure that it is completely independent.

‘The role of Jurats in society and in the justice system makes it impossible for them to be totally independent.

They are very responsible people, but I just don’t think they are quite the right people to do it.

The board of visitors should be made up of lay people.

The Jurats have no training.

If there is an emergency at the prison, who is there to ensure that the prison officers handle it appropriately?’