LABOUR MP Jo Stevens accused the government yesterday of being “more interested in taking prison officers to court for raising health and safety concerns” than working with them.

The former shadow prisons minister added that “assaults against prison officers are at record levels and rising at a record rate.”

Official figures released last week show that assaults on prison officers increased 29 per cent in the last year and have now reached a record high.

The Prison Officers Association (POA) faces a High Court trial after the government accused it of taking unlawful industrial action last October, when officers at Lindholme prison demanded better protection before unlocking cells.

The protest for improved health and safety was sparked by two separate attacks by prisoners on staff. Both of the officers targeted needed hospital treatment and one was strangled to the point of unconsciousness.

At a High Court hearing last year, the Ministry of Justice’s barrister described the assaults as “deeply regrettable” but added that this was “business as usual in a prison.”

POA general secretary Steve Gillan said: “It’s outrageous that prison officers are denied the right to take any form of industrial action, but now the government seems to be trying to stop us even giving advice about health and safety rights.

“We will be revealing in the High Court the horrors facing officers every day at work. We hope the public will sit up and take notice.”

At Justice Questions Richard Burgon took the government to task over the spiralling violence in our prisons: “Every set of prison safety figures shows violence spiralling out of control. Last week we saw yet more record highs. A record high for assaults on staff. A record high for prisoner on prisoner violence. And a record high for self-harm.”
 
He later told the Morning Star “There is an ever deepening crisis of violence in prisons. The government needs to get round the table with our hard-working prison officers to tackle this crisis.”