Prisoners assaulting officers to pay off drug debts

INMATeS are carrying out violent attacks on prison officers to pay off huge drug debts racked up behind bars, a damning report has revealed.

Convicts who owe as much as £5,000 to jail kingpins agree to assault staff in an attempt to reduce the debt.

Under an unofficial ‘tariff’ system, the more brutal the violence meted out by a criminal, the bigger the chunk of debt that is cleared.

Prisoners officers are being slashed, stabbed, bottled, severely beaten or scarred by having boiling water hurled in their faces, said unions. The sickening practice, revealed in hM Prisons and Probation Service’s annual report, is further evidence of the scale of the crisis engulfing jails in england and Wales.

Some inmates are smoking as much as £800 of ‘zombie drug’ Spice each day, forcing them to find ways to pay off the debts.

In other cases, a new prisoner will be told that the cell they have been placed in has a debt left by the previous inmate that needs to be paid. Latest figures show that last year the number of assaults on staff rose 23 per cent to a record 8,429 – one an hour. Serious violence against officers was up 10 per cent to 864.

Spice has been blamed for driving record levels of violence in prisons and generating huge profits for gangs who smuggle in the drug.

The report said: ‘We are aware… some prisoners are trying to pay off drug debts by assaulting staff. This is in addition to the violence generally associated with illicit drug dealing and from some users when under the influence. Debt is a key driver of violence.’

Glyn Travis, of the Prison Officers’ Association, said: ‘The prisoner who is owed money will go to the prisoner who owes it to him and say: “You go and throw a pot of urine over a prison officer or assault him and we will write off the debt.” We are aware of male staff who have been seriously assaulted and in some cases have had to have treatment in hospital.’

he said the union had raised the issue with Prison Service chief Michael Spurr and demanded action.

The Ministry of Justice said it had bought 5,600 body-worn video cameras to help protect staff and was working closely with the police and Crown Prosecution Service to prosecute prisoners who assault officers. A Prison Service spokesman said: ‘The best way to keep staff safe is to keep drugs out of prisons.’

‘Some officers have had treatment in hospital’