West Midlands prison staff assaulted 255 times in a single year, new report show
There were more than 250 assaults on staff at West Midlands prisons in a single year, new figures have revealed – with 137 at HMP Oakwood near Wolverhampton.
During 2013, a total of 255 assaults on workers at Brinsford, Featherstone, Oakwood and Stoke Heath prisons were recorded – more than double the figures from the previous year. The figures, obtained via a Freedom of Information Act request, show that 19 of the attacks were serious assaults that could include anything from a black eye to permanent blindness. The highest number of attacks happened at Oakwood. It had eight serious assaults, and 129 non-serious attacks.
The lowest scoring institution was HMP Featherstone, alongside the M54 near Wolverhampton, which saw just one serious incident and 15 non-serious. HMP Prison Stoke Heath, near Market Drayton, had a total of 21 attacks, four of which were serious while Brinsford in Wolverhampton had six serious assaults and 75 non-serious.
The figures had sharply risen from the previous year when a total of 95 assaults happened across the prisons.
The data also showed that of the four prisons, only HMP Brinsford and Stoke Heath have experienced self inflicted deaths during the period of 2009-13.
The Market Drayton jail saw three deaths by hanging, while two prisoners ended their lives in the same way at Brinsford.
Olu Adedeji, of the Ministry of Justice said: "The National Offender Management Service take assaults on prison staff, prisoners and visitors to prison extremely seriously and we do not tolerate violence of any kind in prison.
"We are also working closely with the police and CPS to develop a new joint protocol to report crimes in prison – this includes pushing for prosecutions when our staff are attacked."
Mr Adedeji said the term 'self-inflicted death' is used to describe any death of a person who has apparently taken his or her own life irrespective of intent.
He explained: "This classification is used because it is not always known whether a person intended suicide. Likewise, attempted suicides are included in self-harm incidents as intent cannot always be determined."
