By Eric King-
The Uk government should address H.M prisons staff concerns,and not pursue court action.
Prison staff are being threatened with court action , after 10,000 members of the Prison Officers Association stopped work over health and safety concerns.
In the wake of violence to inmates and staff, prison staff feel they are not safe enough and are exercising their right to strike. Justice Secretary Liz Truss has sent a letter threatening to take legal action as if its members do not return to work.
A number of court cases have been halted due to the strikes, most notably the case of Thomas Mair, who murdered MP Jo Cox. The U.K government needs to address concerns of prison staff, not pursue court action. The concerns and fears of prison staff are well founded and require urgent attention. This is why they have gone on strike to force the attention of the government.
Prison Governors
Six prison governors due to give evidence to a justice committee hearing on Tuesday morning did not turn up because of the industrial action. The strike is an embarrassment to the U.K government who have a duty to make prisons safe and address the issues of safety concerning prison staff. violence and suicide are rife in many of these prisons, and there should be an answer to them. Prison staff have a right to feel safe during work. Threats to take prison staff to court for protesting is not the answer, these prison staffs want some assurance of a safe working environment. Perhaps more CCTV cameras in cells, extended sentences for offending parties, or even if necessary recruiting police officers in cells, maybe?
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The POA’s national chairman, Mike Rolfe, told the BBC that most local prisons had staff “out the front” and taking part in the protest. “All we can do is offer assurances that our members do not take this lightly, he said.
“Conditions have got so extreme and so dangerous in prisons for both the prison officers and the prisoners, it cannot carry on.”We need to sort this out before any more lives are lost or blood is shed.”
The Ministry of Justice described the action as unjustified and “unlawful”.
Unsafe
But Mr Rolfe said his prison staff members were taking part in health and safety meetings at the prisons and would carry on with their protest because “Chronic staff shortages and impoverished regimes has resulted in staff no longer being safe. He added that a lack of discipline had led to prisoners taking control of areas. This is a horrendous state of play and there is no reason why staff should feel endangered just because they are working in prisons. Other inmates should also not have to face undue threats from stupid and dangerous inmates in prison.
Mr Rolfe decried the appalling rise in violence in U.K prisons where prisoners are supposed to be serving punishment for their crimes instead of committing further crimes in prison. “The continued surge in violence and unprecedented levels of suicide and acts of self-harm, coupled with the recent murder and escapes demonstrate that the service is in meltdown,” a frustrated Mr.Rolfe told the BBC.
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Earlier this month, Ms Truss unveiled a White Paper detailing £1.3bn investment in new prisons over the next five years, including plans for 2,100 extra prison officers, drug tests for inmates on entry and exit from prisons, and more autonomy for governors.
Prison Staff Deserve Safety
Protest
The protest was sparked by multiple high-profile incidents at prisons across England. including A murder in Pentonville a riot and two inmates escaping from Pentonville prison in London. In October, Jamal Mahmoud died after being stabbed at Pentonville jail , and two others injured. Two inmates also escaped from Pentonville prison, and there have been a number of public police notices to find other inmates who have escaped from prison.
Prisoners also caused close to £1m of damage during a riot at Bedford prison, and a few days later an inmate cut a prison officer’s throat with a razor blade on the way back to his cell at HMP Isle of Wight. The U.k government must find some answers to this shameful and intolerable state of affairs.
Dave Todd, a POA representative for London, Kent, Surrey and Sussex, said he felt more vulnerable walking the landings in prisons than he had walked the streets of Northern Ireland during his time in the Army in the early 1990s. That’s a shameful and sad reality, that prison staff don’t feel safe at work. The government must find some answers fast.
National Offender Management Service chief executive Michael Spurr agreed there were “serious issues about safety in prisons”.
But he added: “That’s exactly the sort of conversations we were having with the POA. That’s why this action is just so disappointing, unnecessary and dangerous.”
A MoJ spokesman said: “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.
“We have well-established contingencies in place to manage prisons and keep the public safe, but we are clear that this constitutes an unlawful industrial action, and we will seek remedy in the courts.”
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