PRISON officers at North- East jails have vowed to continue working to rule amid fears over job losses if the service is privatised.

The Prison Officers' Association (POA) has ordered members to withdraw the "goodwill" it sees as vital to the running of prisons until its concerns are addressed.

The national action means staff are working only their contracted hours to highlight the extra work put in towards the running of prisons.

It has already brought some disruption of prisoners' reg-imes and delays in transporting inmates to court.

Among jails involved are Durham Prison, Stockton's Holme House Prison and Deerbolt Young Offenders' Institution, Barnard Castle.

POA members met in Dur-ham yesterday to discuss future action following a one-hour stoppage on Wednesday.

Branch chairman Craig Robson said they feared Durham could be privatised and jobs lost following plans to market-test Brixton Prison, in London.

Mr Robson said: "We want to show if we can't run the prison properly with the staff levels we have got now, we would have to cut regimes even further if jobs were lost."

Colin Moses, a POA national executive committee member, urged Prisons' Minister Paul Boateng to end privatisation plans.

More meetings will be held next week in a bid to end the dispute