Prison officers have been armed with Tasers after a spate of attacks at one of England’s top-security jails. Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood admitted Manchester Arena bomb plotter Hashem Abedi’s ambush on prison staff “forced” ministers to speed up the rollout of the devices.
Specialist officers from the Operational Response and Resilience Unit based in Kidlington, Oxfordshire, and Doncaster, South Yorkshire, were equipped with Tasers on Monday. “I inherited a situation with completely unacceptable levels of violence,” Ms Mahmood told reporters at the Kidlington base last week. “I’m not willing to tolerate that. I’m determined to do everything I can to keep prison staff safe.
“They have been asking for Tasers to be allowed to be used in our prison estate for years and years and years, and I’m very pleased to have been able to greenlight this trial.”
She said the rollout of Tasers for prison staff teams across the UK will be examined as part of the trial, adding: “I think it’s right that we start looking at the trial through the prism of our national capabilities.
“Of course, I will consider what the trial shows, but from my perspective, this is very much the beginning.”
It comes after rates of assaults on prison staff reached record levels last year, rising by 13% in the 12 months up to December 2024, according to government data.
There were also 10,496 assaults on staff in the 12 months to September 2024, a 23% increase from the previous 12 months and a new peak.
Four prison officers were injured at the jail in Brasside, County Durham, with three taken to hospital.
“The incident of Frankland has really forced the pace on further rollout of these measures,” Ms Mahmood said.
Southport killer Axel Rudakubana also allegedly attacked a prison officer at HMP Belmarsh in May by pouring boiling water over them.
Union bosses called for officers to be given stab vests and protective equipment, with Ms Mahmood announcing in June that officers would be told to wear body armour at close supervision centres, separation centres and segregation units in the highest categories of prisons in England and Wales.
Ms Mahmood watched on as officers demonstrated how they would use Tasers on violent inmates in scenarios where there is a significant threat to safety, such as hostage situations or riots.
The trial will run until enough data has been collected to determine if Tasers should be more widely used, according the Ministry of Justice (MoJ). However, Ms Mahmood said she hoped to have updates in the autumn.
Last week, officers based in Kidlington demonstrated their emergency response protocols through two scenarios – one in which inmates take a member of staff as hostage, and another in which three inmates assault a fourth prisoner in the yard.
In the hostage situation, officers showed how the use of loud pyrotechnics can help startle and distract violent inmates before officers are able to immobilise them by tackling them to the ground and putting them in handcuffs.
In the yard attack scenario, officers deployed Tasers and gave verbal warnings before firing.
The targets – fellow officers who played the role of violent inmates – wore thick protective suits so they would not feel the effects of the Taser.
The trial will use the Taser 7 model, which generates 50,000 volts when fired, with the voltage dropping to 1,500 volts on contact with the skin to incapacitate the target.
The T7 model is also a two-shot weapon, enabling officers to fire a second time if they miss their target the first time.
The Tasers will be worn by officers on their tactical vest in a secure holster, making the weapon visible to inmates as a deterrent, officers told Ms Mahmood last week.
The device also collects data, such as how long it was armed for, how long it was discharged for, who discharged it, and any malfunctions.
“Tasers have been used for many years by the police, but a custodial setting is different to usage in other scenarios,” Ms Mahmood said.
“These are exactly the lessons that the trial will be looking to use, and it is one of the reasons why you can’t just look at the usage of Tasers by the police and assume that the read across the prisons will be exactly the same.
“We will have to make sure that we guard against all of those potential incidents as much as is humanly possible … so that we can make sure we’ve got the strongest possible protocols in place and that, when they’re discharged, they do what they’re meant to do, which is prevent a threat to life and keep my staff safe.”
Officers already have access to batons and Pava spray, a synthetic form of pepper spray, in men’s prisons in the public sector.
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) announced in April that Pava spray will be made available “in limited circumstances” to a select number of specialist staff at the three public sector young offender institutions, including YOI Werrington, Wetherby and Feltham A.
The Taser trial is part of a £40million package announced last month to boost security across the prison estate. There will also be £10million specifically for anti-drone measures such as new netting and reinforced windows, the MoJ said on Monday.
“Officers will be subject to robust accountability measures, each deployment of a taser will be reviewed,” a spokesperson for the MoJ added.
The Prison Officers’ Association (POA) said it welcomed the move, but said the Government needed to address the roots of violence in jail.
“The POA will always support any initiative that will help protect our members,” a spokesperson for the trade union said.
“However, as welcome as this initiative is, we need to address the reasons why prison officers need Tasers in the first place.
“Violence in our prisons is out of control, and apathetic prison managers would rather put the prison regime before the safety of their staff.
“We urgently need action to address overcrowding, understaffing, drugs and the other root causes of prison violence.”