More violence in jails warning after fall in prison officer experience levels
British jails face a “vicious circle of violence” as experience among prison officers falls to its lowest level in 15 years, ministers have been warned.
The Government was warned it needed to improve how it recruits and retains staff in prisons across England, as figures from the Ministry of Justice showed the cumulative length of service by current prison officers is now at its lowest since 2010.
The Prison Officers’ Association (POA), which represents staff, said it was “deeply alarmed” by the figures and said it was a “warning siren” for the wider criminal justice system.
Grahame Morris, a Labour MP who chairs a cross-parliamentary group on justice, said the loss of experience could lead to more violence in jails.
The figures showed that there were 22,067 prison officers in full-time equivalent employment at the end of last year. The total length of experience amongst staff in the prison service was 213,125 years.
This is a sharp fall compared to December 2010, when there were 24,501 full-time equivalent prison officers who had 329,353 years of experience.
Even when officer numbers dipped to their lowest level in the period, at 17,796 in 2014, those officers had 65,000 more years of experience than current members of staff.
Prison officer numbers are higher than at times over the last five years, but the years service by those staff has continued to decline.
Mr Morris, who represents Easington, County Durham, said: “The prison service is haemorrhaging experience, with officer resignation rates through the roof.
“Austerity cuts over a decade ago saw a quarter of prison officers forced out, triggering a vicious circle of violence and collapsing experience.
“As prison officer experience goes down, violence goes up – and as violence goes up, morale collapses, more officers leave and experience falls still further.
“We need to break this vicious circle by investing in our most precious resource, frontline prison officers.”
He said officers need to be paid properly, and allowed to retire at a “fair and reasonable age”, otherwise the Government would be failing workers.
Concerns about safety follow incidents over the last year, which included three prison officers suffering life-threatening injuries after they were attacked at HMP Frankland near Durham.
The officers had hot cooking oil thrown over them and were stabbed.
Manchester bomb plotter Hashem Abedi pleaded not guilty to three counts of attempted murder last year.
The case continues.
Mick Pimblett, deputy general secretary of the POA, said staffing levels made it harder to run safe prisons.
He called for the introduction of a long-term workforce plan to recruit and retain more staff. The Commons Justice Select Committee called for a 15-year plan in a report published in November.
The Howard League for Penal Reform also told the Press Association the loss of experienced staff had put “added strain” on the prison system.
Speaking about the figures, Mr Pimblett said: “This is not simply a workforce statistic — it is a warning siren for the entire criminal justice system.
“For years, the POA has been clear: you cannot run safe, stable, and rehabilitative prisons on a foundation of inexperience, high turnover, and chronic understaffing.
“Experienced officers are the backbone of our prisons. They are the ones who de-escalate violence, mentor new recruits, maintain order on the landings, and uphold the professional standards that keep both staff and prisoners safe.
“The loss of that experience is the predictable consequence of Government decisions. Years of pay erosion, unreasonable retirement age, unsafe working conditions, and relentless operational pressure have driven dedicated officers out of the service faster than they can be replaced.
“New recruits, however committed, cannot be expected to shoulder the burden left behind by thousands of departing experienced officers.”
He added: “Without urgent action, the safety and integrity of our prison system will continue to deteriorate.”
The justice select committee, last year, reported that high turnover of staff was among several reasons why prisoners were not being properly rehabilitated.
Labour MP Andy Slaughter, who chairs the committee said: “The decision by the previous Conservative government to reduce the number of prison officers so dramatically was short-sighted and is responsible for many of the problems we see in prisons today.
“Not only were there insufficient numbers of officers to maintain a proper regime but the loss of the most long-serving officers created an inexperienced and untried group of staff.
“More recent steps to recruit officers have started to address the first of these issues but there is no quick way to make up for lost expertise.
“The priority now must be retention of those officers who have joined the service. The job of a prison officer is difficult at the best of times, the Select Committee’s reports on prison conditions show we have a long way to go to make prisons a place of rehabilitation and of safety for staff and prisoners.”
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said the Government had increased prison officer salaries and resignation rates or officers was at its lowest rates for four years.
They said: “This Government inherited a prisons system in crisis, with significant staffing shortages and officers working in challenging circumstances.
“We have taken immediate action to fix a broken system. Prison officer salaries have been boosted to over £37,000, resignations are at their lowest level in four years and we are at 93% of our staffing target for frontline officers. All our prison officers are extensively trained, motivated and ready to deliver our priority of punishment that works to cut crime.”
Published: by Radio NewsHub