Assaults on female prison officers rise by 121%

11am
Assaults on female prison officers rise by 121%


Ed Hancox
Friday August 31, 2007
Guardian Unlimited

Attacks on female prison officers have more than doubled in the past seven years, official figures obtained by Guardian Unlimited revealed today.

The assaults, including stabbings and scalding by boiling water, are directly linked to the surge in the prison population since Labour came to power, experts have said.

Assaults on male prison officers have risen by more than 50% over the same period, the figures showed.

Prison workers said overcrowding was impacting on rehabilitation programmes and leading to increased levels of reoffending.

They said there was an urgent need for thousands of specialist beds for mentally ill inmates who posed a danger to themselves and those who supervise them.

The Prison Officers' Association, which wrongfooted the government by abruptly calling a 24 hour-strike on Wednesday, today said the rise in assaults had made life "miserable" for Britain's 27,000 prison officers.

The Ministry of Justice figures, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, showed a 121% increase in assaults on female prison officers since 2000, with the number rising from 232 to 513.

Male prisons saw a 58% increase in attacks on officers, up from 1,767 in 2000 to 2,804 in 2006. Over the same period, the prison population rose by 24% to the record number of almost 81,000 this summer.

Frances Crook, the director of the Howard League for Penal Reform, said the problems in the prison service stemmed from overcrowding and a lack of funds.

"The rise in assaults is absolutely because of the rise in the prison population - not because more prisoners mean more potential assailants, but because pressure of numbers has brought the penal system to its knees," she said.

"The resources to manage the consequences of the government's custodial obsession are simply not there. Indeed, the Ministry of Justice is currently seeking to shave £60m off its prisons budget."

Brian Caton, the POA general secretary, blamed the increase in attacks on an "under-funded and over-filled" prison service. He said that while the prison population has increased by more than one-third since 1997, the number of prison officers had gone up by only 17%.

Mr Caton added that the increase in attacks on officers had been a factor behind the union's decision to launch this week's wildcat action.

"We're not prepared to accept our officers being almost kicked to death on a daily basis," he said. "It's not surprising that officers are miserable when they're scared they might be attacked for doing their jobs."

He accused the prison service of being dishonest to the public about its funding, saying: "They need to admit that, if prisons don't get more funding and more officers, we won't be able to search cells for drugs and weapons.

"Without extra funding, we won't be able to provide drugs tests to prevent reoffending. We also need about 4,000 specialist beds for mentally ill prisoners who are a serious danger to themselves and to officers."

The Ministry of Justice insisted the government was dealing with the pressures on prisons by planning an 8,000 increase in capacity by 2012.

In June, Lord Falconer, the then lord chancellor, announced a controversial scheme to release short and mid-term prisoners 18 days early.

The Howard League has argued that the government should seek to reduce overcrowding not by increasing the capacity of prisons but by reducing the number of custodial sentences in favour of community sentencing.

"It is quite wrong that prison officers should face this increase in assaults, and it's not surprising that they feel so aggrieved," Nick Herbert, the shadow justice secretary, said.

"There's little doubt about the cause - jails are full to bursting point because ministers repeatedly ignored warnings that capacity would be inadequate."