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UK prison officers stage protest over health and safety fears Prison chiefs seek court injunction to force protesting staff back to work
(about 1 hour later)
Thousands of prison officers across the UK have stopped working in a protest over health and safety concerns. Prison chiefs are urgently seeking a high court injunction to force thousands of prison officers back to work amid a 24-hour protest over the soaring level of violence at jails in England and Wales.
The Prison Officers Association (POA) has directed its members to take part in a day of protest after negotiations with the government broke down. The disruption has meant that several trials have been halted, including that of Thomas Mair, the man accused of the murder of the Labour MP Jo Cox. The jury was sent home from the Old Bailey after being told he could not be brought to court from Belmarsh prison in south London.
Steve Gillan, the POA’s general secretary, said as many as 10,000 prison workers would take part in the protest, providing only emergency cover. Though emergency cover is being provided, the action by the Prison Officers’ Association at every jail in England and Wales means prisoners are not being unlocked from their cells – a situation described as “dangerous” by the chief executive of the National Offender Management Service, Michael Spurr.
The protest, which began at midnight, comes after a string of high-profile incidents at prisons, including an alleged murder, a riot and two inmates escaping. Spurr said the prison officers’ protest amounted to a strike, which the POA is banned from taking by law. The Ministry of Justice is to ask the courts to ban the 24-hour protest action.
About 60 guards gathered in the car park within the gates of HMP Pentonville in north London. Dave Todd, POA representative for London, Kent, Surrey and Sussex, said conditions in prisons were “volatile and dangerous”. “We will be seeking relief from the courts later today … Rather than talk to us the prison officers have taken protest action, which by any other means would be classed as industrial action. They are not working. Prisoners are not being unlocked and that is a dangerous situation,” he said.
“We need to act to protect ourselves,” he said. “It has not come about quickly – it’s a buildup over probably years actually. Three years we have been suffering with recruitment retention issues. Last month, Lewes prison had a riot, Bedford prison had a riot, assaults are at an all-time high. There’s mobile phones and drugs in prisons. It’s just unsafe. The union’s instructions to its members asks them to stage protest action outside their jails for 24 hours until midnight on Tuesday. Emergency cover will be negotiated at each prison to deal with fires, incidents of self-harm, issuing essential medication to prisoners, hospital bedwatches and maintaining unit patrols. Each POA branch is asked to negotiate on a jail-by-jail basis on an action plan to establish minimum safety levels at that jail.
“To me, prison officers taking this type of action speaks volumes for what’s happening inside.” . @Andrew_S_Hatton POA instructions to members pic.twitter.com/n2wpNb8Pv6
Todd also hit back at the Ministry of Justice, saying: “The Ministry of Justice will call it a strike, they will injunct through the courts. Unfortunately that’s how they like to conduct industrial relations. It’s a disgrace that you bully and intimidate working men and women like that.” The protests also led to the cancellation of a Commons justice select committee hearing during which MPs were to hear evidence from prison governors on the government’s safety and reform programme outlined by the justice secretary, Elizabeth Truss, two weeks ago.
He added that non-union staff were still working inside Pentonville, where custody vans were backed up outside the entrance on Tuesday morning. The POA said it had consistently raised the “volatile and dangerous state of prisons, as chronic staff shortages and impoverished regimes has resulted in staff no longer being safe a lack of discipline and prisoners taking control of areas”.
The MoJ said the industrial action was “unlawful” and unjustified. The statement from its national executive said the continued surge in violence and unprecedented levels of suicide and acts of self-harm, coupled with recent murder and escapes showed that the system was in meltdown.
Gillan said: “Every prison officer in England is commencing a protest outside their establishment against the disregard for health and safety of our prison officers and prisoners.” They will provide emergency cover for fires and medical incidents to protect prisoners’ wellbeing, he added. Dave Todd, the POA south-east representative, who was outside Pentonville prison in London, where there was recent jailbreak, said conditions in jails were “volatile and dangerous”.
Prison officers cannot by law take part in a strike and Gillan admitted the day of action would be “interpreted as a strike”. “We need to act to protect ourselves,. It has not come about quickly, it’s a build-up over probably years actually. It’s just unsafe. To me, prison officers taking this type of action speaks volumes for what’s happening inside,” he said.
A union spokesman said: “The POA has consistently raised the volatile and dangerous state of prisons, as chronic staff shortages and impoverished regimes has resulted in staff no longer being safe, a lack of discipline and prisoners taking control of areas. Todd, a former soldier, added: “I served in Northern Ireland and I felt more vulnerable walking the landings in prisons than I did on the streets of Northern Ireland.”
“The continued surge in violence and unprecedented levels of suicide and acts of self-harm, coupled with the recent (alleged) murder and escapes, demonstrate that the service is in meltdown.” The MoJ said there was no justification for the action: “We have been engaged in constructive talks with the POA over the last two weeks and have provided a comprehensive response to a range of health and safety concerns.
Two prisoners – including a convicted attempted murderer – escaped from Pentonville prison in north London on 7 November, sparking a manhunt during which they were eventually recaptured.
Weeks earlier, on 18 October, inmate Jamal Mahmoud, 21, died after being stabbed at the jail in an attack that left two others injured. On 6 November, up to 200 prisoners went on a rampage at HMP Bedford.
An MoJ spokesman said: “There is no justification for this action. We have been engaged in constructive talks with the POA over the last two weeks and have provided a comprehensive response to a range of health and safety concerns.
“The government has announced an additional 2,500 frontline officers to help reduce violence in prisons. We have well-established contingencies in place to manage prisons and keep the public safe, but we are clear that this constitutes unlawful industrial action, and we will seek remedy in the courts.”“The government has announced an additional 2,500 frontline officers to help reduce violence in prisons. We have well-established contingencies in place to manage prisons and keep the public safe, but we are clear that this constitutes unlawful industrial action, and we will seek remedy in the courts.”