Prison officers are leaving the service by the thousand each year amid warnings of threats to their safety and “hardened criminals” running rings around inexperienced staff. There were 3,047 people registered leaving the frontline of the service in the 12 months to September but just 2,416 joiners.
This comes amid strong concern about overcrowding in prisons and security risks at a time when the service has been rocked by the mistaken release of prisoners.
Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick said: “Prison officers are being put in impossible positions. The Government must have their back and roll out the protective gear they need immediately. The delays are risking lives.”
Mr Jenrick is alarmed that inmates who had been placed in solitary confinement have successfully argued that keeping them separate from other prisoners is unlawful under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
He said: “[Murderers] are exploiting the ECHR to end their isolation in prison and get compensation. It’s insane.
“Some are now able to mix with the general population and pose a much bigger threat to officers. The Government should drop their fixation on the ECHR and finally put national security and the safety of officers first.”
As of the end of June, the average length of service for a prison officer was just over five years.
Reform UK MP Sarah Pochin said: “Recruitment and retention of prison officers in this country is at crisis point. Wages have gone down in real terms and starting salaries for new recruits are barely minimum wage.
“Experienced prison officers have had their terms and conditions changed and redundancy was offered and, in many cases, taken.
“This has resulted in an exodus… Hardened prisoners now run rings around young, inexperienced, inadequately trained prison officers.
“The job is stressful, dangerous, full of personal threats yet the remuneration is low. No wonder we can’t recruit and hold onto the right prison officers.”
Prisons minister Lord Timpson said: “We know that sufficient and skilled frontline staffing is fundamental to delivering safe, secure, and rehabilitative prisons. We remain committed to ensuring prisons are sufficiently resourced and that we retain and build levels of experience.
“Substantive recruitment efforts will continue at all prisons where vacancies exist or are projected, with targeted interventions applied to those prisons with the most need.”
A Government spokesperson said: “We have been clear we will do whatever we can to protect our hardworking staff – which is why we are trialling tasers in prisons and mandated protective body armour for prison officers working with the most dangerous offenders.
“We won’t be cowed by legal threats from prisoners. When the most dangerous prisoners pose a risk they will be placed in our specialist high security units.”
Source link
