Attacks on prison officers double
Assaults on prison officers have doubled in just three years, UTV can reveal.
In the past year there were 94 attacks on staff compared to 47 two years ago.
That’s almost two attacks in every week.
The Prison Officers’ Association said injuries range from bruises to broken limbs.
In one attack an officer at the Young Offenders Centre at Hydebank Wood was knocked unconscious and dragged into a cell and only for another member of staff intervening was the warder not seriously injured.
Finlay Spratt from the association said its members feel they are at breaking point.
He added: “Sick levels have fairly increased over this past number of years and we believe it is all down to the amount of pressures on prison officers because of the lack of staff.”
Head of the Prison Service Sue McAllister recently experienced first-hand just what her staff face on a daily basis when she was kicked by a female prisoner.
She told UTV: “I wasn’t shaken up I wasn’t injured and I just carried on with my planned visit.
“What it shows is that we look after some people with some very challenging behaviours.
“Our staff do a very difficult job and they do it very, very well.”
Violence among inmates, while slightly down over the last three years, runs into the hundreds.
Up until July this year there were 248 attacks, compared to 327 for the entirety of last year.
That’s almost one a day.
The Prison Officers’ Association says too many prisoners in too few cells is a major factor in the assaults and there needs to be more staff.
Mrs McAllister added: “We are taking this very seriously, every assault that happens in prison is too many.
“We don’t tolerate violence against anybody in our prisons particularly our prison officers who work on the front line on a daily basis.
“What we have been able to do is reduce the amount of overcrowding by opening up new accommodation and reopening unused accommodation so that crowding levels have reduced and that means that our staff are safer.”
The Justice Committee at Stormont is set to debate the increase in violence in Northern Ireland’s three prisons.
DUP MLA Paul Givan added: “Prison staff are under immense pressure and prisoners are meant to be there for rehabilitation so that they can come back onto the streets as reformed characters.
“And they are actually being subject to hundreds of attacks every year.
“Now that is not a safe prison environment.”
