PR 288: “THE GOVERNMENT MUST ACT URGENTLY” AS 85 ASSAULTS PER DAY ARE CARRIED OUT ON PRISON STAFF SAYS UNION LEADER

Violence and exposure to traumatic incidents is a daily experience for Prison Officers in England and Wales and the situation is getting worse according to the latest statistics published by the Ministry of Justice. 

The data published shows assaults on staff, violence, deaths in custody and incidents of prisoner self harm soaring.  

The quarterly report to March 2025 shows that there were 10,568 assaults on staff, an increase of 254% since the start of data collection in 2010. For the same period serious assaults increased by 220% to 2.5 a day, prisoner self harm increased by 202% to almost 80,000 incidents and by March 2025 401 prisoners had died in custody. 

Commenting Steve Gillan, General Secretary of the Prison Officers Association said: 

“The situation our members face is completely intolerable. In no other workplace would such levels of violence against staff who in the course of their duties be tolerated. 

Prison Officers have to deal with violence and serious assault against themselves and their colleagues and they also have to deal with prisoner on prisoner attacks, deaths in custody and tens of thousands of incidents of self harm every year.

The Government must act urgently to protect our members by properly staffing jails, providing the appropriate PPE and restoring order, discipline and control across the prison estate.”

Mark Fairhurst National Chair of the POA added:

“These appalling statistics highlight how dangerous the Prison Officer role has become. Without investing in an increased presence on the landings and ensuring staff have adequate protective equipment the service will lurch from crisis to crisis. It’s time staff were allowed to regain control of our chaotic violent prisons. We want control not chaos.”

 

Ends

  

NOTES for statistics see link 

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/safety-in-custody-quarterly-update-to-march-2025

 

For further information, contact:

POA Press Office                                                020 8803 0255 Option 7