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Researchers from the University of Bath and UCL are conducting a study exploring the experiences of prison staff who have experienced challenging or distressing experiences at work.

A stark new report published today by the Prison Officers’ Association, the union representing Scotland’s 4000 front line Prison Staff, has laid bare the reality of working in the country’s overcrowded and understaffed prison estate.  “Crisis Point Reached - The Pressures Facing Scotland’s Prison Officers uncovered” draws on the experience and testimony of Prison Officers work ...

POA give evidence to the Scottish Parliament Criminal Justice Committee inquiry into the harm caused by substance misuse in Scottish prisons

I am an officer and POA member at HMP Frankland. I was left horrified and upset by the attack on my friends and colleagues on 12th April 2025.

Watch POA National Chair Mark Fairhurst on BBC Breakfast after attack on prison officer by Southport killer Axel Rudakubana

POA National Chair Mark Fairhurst provides update following meeting with the Secretary of State for Justice, Shabana Mahmood

POA National Chair Mark Fairhurst updates members after attack on prison officers at HMP Frankland

Salterton Associates Ltd provide specialist services to the British Overseas Territories and are forming a cadre of former UK Prison Officers to assist certain Caribbean Islands in times of emergency / natural disaster.

Mark Fairhurst Chair of the Prison Officers Association said: "The Justice System lurches from crisis to crisis. The prison estate cannot cope with the existing prison population and now the Government has announced they can cope with unpredicted rises in the prison population without explaining where all the additional staff will come from..."

The POA's Assistant General Secretary Mick Pimblett discusses the POA’s stance on the lack of rights to any form of industrial action for prison workers and the absence of their reinstatement from the Government's new Workers Rights Bill