Prison staff shortages leave jails facing 'bloodbaths' - union

Steve Gillan, of the Prison Officers Association, said proper staff levels were needed if officers - not inmates - were to be in charge of jails.

According to a BBC report, Steve Gillan, of the Prison Officers Association, said proper staff levels were needed if officers - not inmates - were to be in charge of jails. Earlier, he held talks with Justice Secretary Liz Truss over the rise in violence and suicides in prisons. Ms Truss is set to unveil what she is calling the biggest overhaul of prisons in a generation on Thursday. Mr Gillan said he wanted her reform plans to include prisoner searches as well as greater investment, saying £900m had been taken out of the service since 2010.

The justice secretary is due to outline her plans for prison reform on Thursday. "We are not accepting any crumbs from the table," he said. He added that Ms Truss appeared to accept the prison service was in crisis, underfunded and short-staffed, and warned the POA and government would be "on a collision course" if these problems were not addressed. "The last thing that we want to see is more carnage and bloodbaths, and a prison officer loses his life," he said, after the meeting.

Earlier on Wednesday, the POA, which is banned from taking industrial action, had been set to take part in an unofficial walkout. The union has set a deadline of 11 November for government to take action over prison violence, otherwise it is threatening to resume its plan of public meetings and taking control of prisons from managers. Latest figures show a new high of 65 assaults in jails every day. In the year to June, assaults on staff jumped by 43% to 5,954, with 697 of these recorded as serious.

Full BBC report here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-37842500