A prison officer’s throat has been slashed by an inmate using an improvised weapon inside a high-security jail. The incident is one of three recent attacks on officers in custodial facilities, according to the Prison Officers’ Association (POA), and comes as men’s prisons be full by November. All three incidents reportedly took place within the last 24 hours.
A “specialist” officer was “slashed” with the weapon, sustaining injuries to the neck and ear at HMP Woodhill, a category B men’s high security prison in Milton Keynes. After the incident, the officer required hospital treatment, with stitches and surgical glue applied to their wounds. In another incident at the same prison, a prison officer was attacked by a prisoner being held under the Terrorism Act 2008 and was “assaulted and injured”.
During a third case at Gartree Prison in Market Harborough, staff attended a “medical emergency” as a prisoner “faked an epileptic fit”, according to the POA.
When staff arrived to deal with the inmate, one officer was assaulted and had a television thrown at him, while a female officer sustained a broken arm.
Steven Gillan, general secretary of the POA, said: “Escalating levels of violence are out of control in the prison service in England and Wales. It appears that [His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service] have learned nothing.
“They continue to ignore the calls from our members on the front line for urgent action to protect prison officers from violence. It is clear prison regimes must be reviewed as a matter of urgency. We need action to protect prison officers before there is a fatality.”
The incidents come after a slew of other assaults in recent weeks, including Southport killer Axel Rudakubana ambushing an officer at HMP Belmarsh with boiling water last Thursday, forcing the staff member to go to hospital.
Manchester Arena terrorist Hashem Abedi attacked three guards with oil last month at HMP Frankland in Country Durham, while the POA said they had also received stab wounds.
Justice secretary Shabana Mahmood was warned men’s prisons are due to run out of space in just five months’ time, as she announced the construction of three new in a “record prison expansion”.
The project will see £4.7 billion ploughed into building new facilities.
