TWO PRISON OFFICERS who were seriously assaulted by prisoner Derek Brockwell have been sent a letter from the Irish Prison Service about their sick leave.

The officers are still recovering after the vicious attack. One officer received surgery for stab injuries to his abdomen.

TheJournal.ie has learned that the letters refer to their leave possibly affecting their incremental progression.

However, the Prison Service issued a statement to TheJournal.ie saying the letter is “in line with normal procedures, to clarify and re-assure [the officers] with regard to salary payments/allowances while on sick leave and other entitlements as set out in Official Circulars”.

It comes after the Prison Officers Association put forward an emergency motion at its conference last week calling for open leave for prison officers injured in the course of their duties.

The Deputy General Secretary of the Prison Officers Association, Jim Mitchell, described such letters as ‘standard practice’ and told TheJournal.ie:

“I haven’t seen the actual letter but I’m not surprised as this is precisely the ludicrous circumstances that we referred to at our annual conference where officers who have been seriously injured have the added worries of meeting their bills and thereby adding to their stress and putting huge pressure on them to return before fully recuperating.”

Last week, it emerged that a prisoner who has a record of 150 assaults against staff continued to enjoy rewards.

He was able to get in a cake and fizzy drinks for his birthday, just days after viciously attacking an officer.

Read: Prisoner who attacked officers 150 times got a birthday cake while on punishment>

Read: Dangerous prisoner has fishtank, Playstation and special brown bread delivered to jail cell>