Prison Attacks at One Per Hour

One Prison Officer is being attacked per hour in English and Welsh jails. New statistics show that assaults have leapt by 20% over the last year according to the Ministry of Justice.

 

There were 10,213 attacks on Officers last year, approximately 27 per day. Of those incidents 10% were serious enough to warrant medical attention for fractures, burns or bruising.

 

Amongst the incidents, a 23-year-old officer had his throat cut with a razor blade at HMP Nottingham. Thirteen officers were taken to hospital after being attacked at Feltham Young Offenders' Institution. Additionally assaults, including prisoners fighting each other, hit a high of 34,000.

 

The prisons minister, Rory Stewart, acknowledged the assaults were unacceptably high but pointed to an apparent slowing in the rate towards the end of the year.

 

As such assaults on staff in the three months to December, 2018, fell by 14 per cent, to 2,349. This was down from the previous quarter and was the first quarterly drop recorded in two years.

 

Assaults in the three months to December last year also decreased by 11 per cent to 8,150 from the previous quarter.

 

By contrast the number of deaths, in prison, rose six per cent to 317 in the 12 months to March. There were 87 self-inflicted deaths and 55,598 incidents of self-harm. Mr Stewart welcomed the quarterly drop in violence, but said, "There is still much to do and no one should ­underestimate the effort required to return long-term stability."

 

GV Hale & The Johnson Partnership

Doncaster Crime Solicitors