PRISON officers were not surprised by Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke’s announcement that Birmingham would become the first jail to be handed over from the public sector to private ownership.

Some accused the Government of wanting to take on the Prison Officers’ Association (POA) and break the union to pave the way for more privatisation of the country’s jails.

Speaking before a meeting to discuss union strategy in the row, a senior officer with 12 years experience said the POA needed to stage disruptive short stoppages to bring the criminal justice system to a halt.

“This will make it very hard for management to instigate contingency plans,” he said. Another officer claimed the Ministry of Justice was using Birmingham as a test case for a wider prison privatisation scheme.

“If they break Birmingham then prisons outside the big cities will be easy meat. It is a massive test for the privatisation programme,” he said.