Prison violence surges by 34% to record high

REDUCTIONS in prison officer numbers have contributed to the rising ‘bloodbath’ of violence in jails, the Ministry of Justice admitted yesterday.

A report laid bare the scale of violence behind bars, with a record 65 assaults every day. The total number of attacks on guards and inmates soared 34 per cent to 23,775 in the year to June.

Deaths increased by 21 per cent to 324 – including 107 prisoners who committed suicide – and self-harm incidents rose by 26 per cent to a new peak of 36,440.

The figures, published by the Government yesterday, followed a raft of warnings about tumbling safety in jails. In July, Chief Inspector of Prisons Peter Clarke said too many prisons were ‘unacceptably violent and dangerous places’.

Experts say the rise in aggression is fuelled by a huge surge in the availability of so-called legal highs such as Spice and Mamba and cuts in the numbers of prison officers. For the first time, the MoJ acknowledged that repeated slashing of its budget had contributed to problems.

The report said: ‘The rise in assaults since 2012 has coincided with major changes to the regime, operating arrangements and culture in public sector prisons.

‘For example, restructuring of the prison estate, including staff reductions.’