UK prison chief calls for US-style 'supermax jails' to protect guards
To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video
It is only a matter of time before a prison officer is murdered by an inmate, the chairman of the Prison Officers' Association (POA) has warned.
A prison officer was airlifted to hospital yesterday after being stabbed while on duty at the high security HMP Long Lartin in Worcestershire.
That attack came days after three prison officers were targeted – including one with boiling water and another left with a bleed on the brain – in 48 hours at HMP Whitemoor in Cambridgeshire.
The number of assaults on staff in adult prisons in England and Wales per year has reached its highest level in a decade, new data shows.
The figures come after several incidents in prisons have raised concerns over staff safety and the standard of protective equipment at work.
Four officers were attacked with hot oil and homemade weapons by Manchester Arena bomb plotter Hashem Abedi at HMP Frankland in County Durham on April 12.
Mark Fairhurst, chairman of the POA, has now called for those inmates posing the most risk to his staff to be 'totally locked down'.
Speaking to BBC Breakfast, he said jails are 'awash' with 'all kinds of illicit items' – including drugs, phones and weapons – but 'we very rarely lock them down'.
Mr Fairhurst said 'now is the time to introduce supermax facilities' like those in the US, 'so people who pose the most risk to staff are totally locked down'.
'It is only a matter of time before one of my colleagues is murdered on duty,' he added.
Some 10,605 assaults on staff in male and female jails were recorded in 2024, up from 9,204 in 2023 and nearly three times the 3,640 in 2014.
The rate of assaults on staff stood at 122 per 1,000 prisoners last year, up from 108 in 2023 and 43 a decade earlier.
Mr Fairhurst linked the violence inside prisons to the amount of contraband being smuggled in from the outside using drones.
'We need to secure the airspace above our prisons,' he said.
'Why are our airspaces not tightened? Why do we have ingress of drones in our prisons? Surely there must be technology out there that prevents drones entering airspaces.' More Trending
Metro has contacted the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) for comment.
A spokesperson told the BBC that attacks on prison staff are 'unacceptable' and will not be tolerated.
They said the MoJ was 'gripping the situation by investing in prison maintenance and security, working with the police and others to tackle serious organised crime'.
A spokesman said earlier this month they are 'also bolstering security to stop more contraband entering jails'.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.
MORE: Peru Two drug mule warns Britons of 'hellish conditions' inside prison
MORE: Multiple people seriously injured after car crashes into pedestrians
MORE: Man arrested after police officer injured when 'car reversed into him'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Metro
a day ago
- Metro
Moment officer tells Christian street preacher 'it's not right' outside station
To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video A British Transport Police officer was captured on film telling a group of Christians to stop preaching outside a busy London station. The group had been on the concourse between Kings Cross Station and St Pancras International when the officer told the religious group, 'It's so loud'. 'These people just want to do their journey, they're not coming here to listen to you,' the officer said. Preacher Mon B, who leads Mad 4 Jesus Ministries, asked if she was performing a happy song, and if it would be okay for them to be present outside the station. The officer then began to walk away from the discussion, before adding: 'I just think it's all wrong.' The moment happened shortly after the group were allegedly told they couldn't stand in front of the barriers near the station. Metro has contacted BTP for more information. Preachers have previously had run-ins with police – one preacher who was forcibly stopped and moved on by police for 'attracting a crowd' with his public speaking and singing was awarded £1,250. Dominic Muir, who runs Christian charities Now Believe and Jesus Fields, was preaching and singing Amazing Grace in Blandford, Dorset, on April 22, 2020, when the UK was in its first lockdown. A police officer asked him to move on and then grabbed him by the wrist to get him to leave. Dorset Police believe the officer used 'reasonable force', but they reached an out-of-court settlement paying Dominic £1,250 in damages and costs. Onlookers filmed the encounter, and a video shows the preacher speaking about the gospel on the back of a truck. More Trending The 44-year-old said at the time: 'I couldn't believe it, there I was out bringing the message of the gospel, the message of hope, people were listening and a police man came and put a stop to what I was doing. 'Suddenly, out of nowhere gets on the back of my vehicle, grabs my arm strongly. 'It was humiliating. It was intimidating. It was shocking. I felt like a criminal. And the whole outreach, the message of salvation, was totally halted. 'The reason why this case matters so much is right now we are in the middle of a pandemic where people are committing suicide, there's mass depression, domestic violence, people are losing their jobs. Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@ For more stories like this, check our news page. MORE: Sister charged with murdering film director in missing diamond Rolex case MORE: 10 of London's best rooftop bars for summer MORE: 'We need more spaces in London to nurture creativity' – how this venue is paving the way
Metro
2 days ago
- Metro
Prisoner painstakingly dug a tunnel but failed to escape after getting stuck
To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video This is the moment an inmate was found wedged in a hole during a bungled escape attempt in Brazil. Prisoner Alan Leandro da Silva, 32, spent two days using a broomstick handle and a nail to dig the opening in his cell at Rio Branco Penitentiary. Thinking the hole was wide enough, he tried to slip through while the guards were distracted, only to find himself lodged firmly in the concrete. Wardens foiled the attempted prison break after seeing 'strange movement' in the cell on June 16. They called firefighters to help free da Silva, whose upper body had started to strain from dangling over the floor. Footage shows the convict leaning on a blue chair as rescuers drill through the concrete around his torso. Officers completed the painstaking extraction and freed da Silva unharmed. A fire department spokesman said: 'According to the inmate's own account, the hole was dug for two days using a nail and a broomstick. 'However, during the escape attempt, he was trapped inside the opening. In view of the situation, the Criminal Police called the Fire Department to carry out the rescue. 'After thorough work, the rescue team was able to successfully release the victim, who was safely handed over to the Criminal Police team that was already on standby at the scene.' The man was given first aid before being hauled back into his cell, but it's unclear how he got the tools to make his escape attempt possible. In 2018, a prisoner suffocated to death just metres from escaping after digging a 70-metre-long tunnel from his cell toilet to freedom. More Trending Judson Cunha Evangelista, 26, suffered from a lack of oxygen as he carved the tunnel, which had already passed under the perimeter wall of the maximum security jail in Boa Vista, northern Brazil. The escape route was discovered by police after the inmate, who was serving time for murder, managed to make it back to his cell after becoming ill inside the hole, but he died soon after. Shocked officers discovered a hole which began underneath the toilet in Evangelista's cell in Wing 7 of the Monte Cristo penitentiary, the largest prison in Brazil's northernmost state of Roraima. The dirt tunnel continued for 70 metres underneath the prison and had already passed under its heavily-fortified outer walls and electric fences, according to prison authorities. Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@ For more stories like this, check our news page. MORE: Model who posted revenge porn photos of woman online spared jail MORE: Moment cab passenger dives out of car to avoid paying fare MORE: British journalist Charlotte Peet who vanished in Brazil four months ago has been found
Metro
2 days ago
- Metro
Toddler dies in hot car after ‘dad left him to get haircut and drink at bar'
A father has been busted after allegedly leaving his 18-month-old son in a hot vehicle for several hours as he got a haircut and drank at a bar. Scott Allen Gardner, 33, is accused of leaving his son, Sebastian, in his truck on the afternoon of June 6 and going drinking inside Hanky Panky's Lounge in Ormond Beach, Florida. Sebastian 'was left helpless in a hot truck for more than 3 hours', according to the Volusia Sheriff's Office in a Facebook post. Temperatures reached 92 degrees Fahrenheit that day and medical examiners estimated that Sebastian's body temperature was 111 degrees Fahrenheit. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video An officer with the Ormond Beach Police Department tried to revive Sebastian at the scene, but he succumbed. The same officer arrested Gardner at his mother's home in Ormond Beach on Thursday. Body camera footage showed sheriff's deputies and police officers walking onto a property in an residential area surrounded by vegetation. The deputies took Gardner, wearing a blue T-shirt and shorts, into custody without incident and escorted him off the backyard. 'Honey, I love you,' Gardner's mother, Jody Thereault, could be heard saying as deputies led him away. Gardner replied, 'Love you guys!' A man who was not in the frame could be heard saying: 'Say goodbye, because you're not going to come back here again.' Gardner was handcuffed with his arms around his back in front of the vehicle, and put in the backseat. The father 'gave multiple false accounts' of what happened, police said. Gardner, of South Daytona, has been charged with aggravated manslaughter of a child as well as child neglect causing great bodily harm, and was given a $100,000 bond. A GoFundMe page for Sebastian's family set up by Melissa Camacho on behalf of Thereault states that 'we mourne the sudden and unexpected passing of little Sebastian'. It asks for prayers for Gardner and his mother. More Trending 'No parent should ever have to experience the pain of losing a child,' states the page. 'I hope they can find some comfort in the love and support surrounding them. Sebastian's spirit and bright light will forever remain in the hearts of all who knew and loved him.' The GoFundMe page had raised more than $2,800 as of Friday afternoon. Sebastian died two days before a Louisiana father allegedly left his 21-month-old daughter strapped to a carseat in a vehicle for nine hours when the temperature reached 105 degrees Fahrenheit, killing her. Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@ For more stories like this, check our news page. MORE: Inside New York's 'Pigeon Fest' where impersonators battle for title MORE: Mum attacked police believing they were impostors who'd come to kill her MORE: Teen who murdered 12-year-old schoolgirl Ava White named for first time
