West Midlands prison violence at record levels

The shocking new figures show how the prison crisis has gripped the area, with HMP Oakwood and HMP Featherstone, both near Wolverhampton, and HMP Swinfen Hall, near Lichfield, recording more assaults last year than since records began.

A union boss has said prison officers are working 'in the mouth of a volcano' that is 'about to erupt'.

There were 445 assaults at Oakwood last year, including 152 assaults on staff. In 2015 there were 263 assaults, including 65 against staff. The previous highest number of assaults was 297 in 2013. The category C prison also recorded a record 79 serious assaults last year.

Featherstone recorded 192 assaults in 2016, with 50 against staff. The previous year there were 146 assaults, the highest figure in the prison's history, with 23 against staff. Swinfen Hall recorded 313 assaults last year, a record 42 assaults on staff and a record 274 on prisoners.

HMP Brinsford, the young offenders institution based on the same site as HMP Featherstone, had 366 assaults in 2016 compared to 276 in 2015. HMP Stafford, which houses notorious paedophile Rolf Harris, also saw an increase from 29 assaults in 2015 to 36 in 2016.

Both prisons also recorded worrying increases in staff assaults, with 69 at Brinsford in 2015 jumping to a record 108 in 2016. Three staff assaults at HMP Stafford in 2015 leapt to seven last year. The Prison Officers Association (POA) has blamed the government for not tackling the mounting problem of violence in prisons.

Mike Rolfe, the POA's chair, said: "Our members have been abandoned by this government in the mouth of a volcano that's about to erupt and there is no rescue in sight. Urgent steps are required and the current Government are not prepared to listen to reason or do business with the POA and so we cannot rule anything out during the coming weeks."

The Ministry of Justice, responsible for the prisons other than Oakwood, say despite the year-on-year increase, the figures had actually decreased from the previous quarter in 2016.

Jerry Petherick, managing director for custodial and detention services at private security firm G4S, which runs HMP Oakwood, said: "

Our teams work tirelessly to bear down on violence and detect, intercept and seize drugs and other contraband which destabilises prison regimes. We will continue to work closely with the police, our partners in the prisons we manage as well as with the Ministry of Justice."