Attacks on prison staff are at a new high, according to fresh government figures which show worsening conditions across England and Wales’ overcrowded prisons.
There were 10,605 assaults on staff last year, up 15 per cent on the year before setting a new grim record. The statistics, published by the Ministry of Justice on Thursday, come after police launched an investigation into an attack on three prison officers at HMP Frankland in County Durham.
Hashem Abedi, one of the men responsible for the Manchester arena bombing, threw hot cooking oil over the officers and used “home made weapons” to stab them, according to the Prison Officers’ Association (POA).
New data shows that conditions in England’s jails are worsening across the board, with more inmates self-harming and assaults on the rise.
In the year to March 2025, there has been a 37 per cent increase in the number of deaths in prison – from 291 to 399.
This has been driven by rises in deaths from natural causes and deaths awaiting further information. However the number of homicides in prison each year has also increased from one to seven.
Seven homicides in jail is particularly high, with most calendar years usually seeing between zero and three such deaths, the Ministry of Justice brief noted.
Last week a 44-year-old prison inmate was arrested on suspicion of murder after John Mansfield, 63, was found dead in HMP Whitemoor in Cambridgeshire.
Mansfield, who was serving a life sentence for the murder of his neighbour, died from a head injury and was discovered last Sunday afternoon, a Cambridgeshire Police spokesperson said.
Separately murderer Gareth Dack , who was jailed for a minimum of 33 years after killing grandmother Norma Bell, was found dead at HMP Frankland on Monday. The prison and probation ombudsman have said they will investigate the death.
As well as the number of recorded assaults on prison staff going up, the rate per 1,000 inmates is also on the rise. The rate of assaults on staff increased 13 per cent in the year to December 2024, and both the number and rate of assaults on staff peaked in the latest 12 months.
The rate of attacks on staff was increasing at the same pace across both the male and female prison estates.
Ministers announced on Thursday that pepper spray will now be used in young offender institutions, where rates of assaults on staff are significantly higher than in adult prisons. Specially trained prison officers will be allowed to use the pepper spray as a last resort to help diffuse violent incidents.
POA national chair Mark Fairhurst said the government will also be running a snap-review of providing officers with stab proof vests. This review will be concludes in the next few weeks, and the union is pushing for all prison officers to be issued with the protective gear.
Geoff Willetts, Midlands representative for the POA, has said that there has been an increasing need for the Specialist National Tactical Response Unit, a group that is deployed when incidents can’t be handled by prison staff. Responding to a recent violent attack in Lowdham Grange prison, he added: “These seems to be an increasing need for this group to be deployed due to frequent calls outs to address rising prison violence and an ever increasing prison population, which brings its own demands and pressures on recruitment, retention and the training of staff, all of which is paramount to delivering a safe regime.”
This is a developing story. More to follow…