2,000 prison officers to ease staffing shortage

Justice Secretary Liz Truss has announced that an extra 2,100 prison officers are to be recruited to ease staffing shortages in UK jails.

In response to recent frustrations, highlighted by the last minute talks with the Prison Officers Association (POA), Truss is to unveil a new Prison Safety and Reform white paper outlining how new recruits should help to reduce attacks on staff and prisoners.

Other details to be presented include more autonomy for governors, a responsibility to ensure drug tests for inmates when they enter and leave jail and a new duty on the secretary of state to intervene when prisons are failing. No-fly zones over prisons are also to be implemented to stop drones dropping drugs and contraband into jails.

The White Paper comes after £14 million was announced last month to hire 400 extra officers in ten of the most challenging prisons aimed at curbing a surge in violence and self-harm fuelled by dangerous psychoactive substances.

Truss said: “It is absolutely right that prisons punish people who commit serious crimes by depriving them of their most fundamental right: liberty. However, our reoffending rates have remained too high for too long. So prisons need to be more than places of containment – they must be places of discipline, hard work and self-improvement.

“They must be places where offenders get off drugs and get the education and skills they need to find work and turn their back on crime for good.”

While acknowledging that extra staff is welcome, the POA warned that the announcement overshadowed wider problems that the government has caused.

Since 2010, prison officer numbers have fallen from about 25,000 to 18,000, while the number of prisoners has risen slightly in the same time bracket. The extra officers, costing £100 million a year, will not restore staffing to the levels seen before 2010.

Steve Gillan, general secretary of the POA, said: “The reality is this government has caused the problem - they've cut the staffing levels, they've taken so much money out of the system that the system is broken.

"And my union will not stand by and watch our members become punch bags on a daily basis. We want agreement with this government on a system going forward which puts health and safety at the heart of the prison service.”

Union leaders have recently reiterated that prisons were facing bloodbaths unless more staff were recruited and retained. In the year to June, assaults on staff jumped by 43 per cent to 5,954, with 697 of these recorded as serious. Additionally, latest figures show a new high of 65 assaults in jails every day.

Speaking to BBC Breakfast, Gillan continued: “We all know the statistics - Liz Truss herself has conceded to us in a meeting that the prisons are full of violence and in some cases out of control.

"She concedes that they are awash with drugs and that we have many problems within our system. That's why we've said we want the here and now dealt with, and the health and safety of prisoners and staff. And that's not being addressed."

The White Paper can be seen here: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/fil...