Rising prison violence has led to debate about Pepper Spray

Prison officers across the UK have called for use of pepper spray in an attempt to control prison violence and protect against assaults. Surging violence from offenders has led to major frustration and a request for officers to be better equipped to deal with prisoners.

 

However, these requests are being blocked by legal challenges who are claiming that the excessive use of pepper spray will breach criminals' human rights. 

 

The roll-out of pepper spray (also known as PAVA) is currently being piloted at four jails. The Ministry of Justice had plans to roll this out to all 122 prisons across the country which should have amounted to £2million. This has been delayed due to disputes over human rights and the potential 'irresponsible' use of spray if all officers are equipped with them. 

 

Whilst this roll-out is being delayed, prison officers have threatened to walk out over the soaring violence and increasing assaults. They have urged that prison violence is becoming hard to control and officers are not fully equipped to tackle the prisoners. 

 

Defenders of the Equality and Human Rights Commission have argued that providing pepper spray to all prison officers may lead to irresponsible use and breach human rights if abused. It has also been suggested that this will only outrage prisoners more, and cause more prison violence, rather than control it. 

 

Chairman of the Prison Officers Association, Mark Fairhurst said: "Nothing is ruled out or in. We have had 6,000 assaults on staff since the roll-out was promised. How many could have been prevented if we had PAVA as a deterrent? Every day many of our members are risking life-changing injuries."

 

The Ministry of Justice has asserted that PAVA would only be used to reduce the risk of serious harm and protect against assaulting a prison officer. Prison officers will be provided "appropriate" training before the PAVA is rolled-out.

 

The Johnson Partnership

Derby Crime Solicitors