Number of jail staff off with stress has
RISING VIOLENCE TAKES A TOLL
BRITAIN’S creaking prisons are facing a staff sickness crisis as violence, drugs and long hours leave morale at an “all-time low”.
The number of officers off work from stress has more than doubled, the Sunday People can reveal.
In just two months from April this year, 549 staff were off ill.
In total, 12,613 days were lost – hitting taxpayers as other officers had to cover on overtime.
At that rate more than one in four of the prison service’s 20,000 frontline staff will take time off through stress this year.
Gruelling
Our revelations come amid discipline problems and after assaults on staff topped 8,000 last year – 160 every week. The prison officers’ union the POA said staff were burnt out from gruelling shifts.
Assistant general secretary Glyn Travis said: “The figures you have uncovered are shocking. The reasons are simple. Officers are being seriously assaulted every day and they’re having to deal with rampant drug abuse.
“They are inadvertently inhaling psychoactive substances like Spice and often hospitalised. Add to that excessive hours because of staff shortfalls.
“They are being burnt out and the consequences are ill health and severe stress and anxiety.
He said 12 staff and eight prison- ers were taken to hospital last week after assaults, adding: “If there’s not enough staff then officers can’t deliver their regime and inmates grow frustrated and angry at having to be locked up.
“Then comes violence and drug abuse, which also leads to violence and chaos. And in the end staff end up off with stress. It is a vicious cycle because sickness is at all-time high and morale is at an all-time low.”
There was a mass walkout by prison officers in England and Wales a fortnight ago – quickly called off after talks with Prisons Minister Rory Stewart.
That came after a damning report said privately-run Birmingham prison was in “an appalling state”. Chief inspector for prisons Peter Clarke described a culture of violence, filth and drugs. Violence against prison staff and among inmates in jails in England and Wales has hit record highs, official figures show. There were 29,485 assaults last year, a rise of 13 per cent. Of 21,270 lag-on-lag assaults, 3,029 were serious. There were 8,429 assaults on staff, up 23 per cent. A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: “We are committed to supporting the health of all our employees.”