Exclusive:‘Literally no space’: major prison union requests urgent meeting with government over staff safety concerns

“Serious concerns” over staff safety in prisons has prompted a trade union general secretary to request an urgent meeting with the Justice Secretary, NationalWorld can reveal.

The Community trade union, which primarily represents staff working in the 14 prisons run by private contractors such as Serco and Sodexo, wrote to the Justice Secretary Alex Chalk earlier this month, about violence against its members.

General secretary Roy Rickhuss expressed “serious concerns regarding assaults on staff across the sector”, citing research from a recent report which found that one in four justice, custodial and immigration sector workers have been assaulted at work at least once in the last year. 

Meanwhile a separate union source told NationalWorld there is “literally no space in prisons” at the moment public or private, and the Prison Officers’ Association has also warned of widespread burnout among staff.

Overcrowding in prisons is getting towards a crisis point, with reports prisoners are sharing cells and being moved around the country at short notice, while unions are warning staff to prioritise their safety above all else due to the challenging conditions.  

Additional capacity across the prison estate has dropped below 1,000, Ministry of Justice figures show, despite the government increasing it to record highs, as overall prisoner numbers have topped 85,000 for the first time in years - with experts warning this will rise above 90,000, well above safe levels. 

And since 20 February, 487 prisoners have been held in police cells across 553 nights as part of Operation Safeguard, with daily numbers peaking on the night of 8 March when 62 prisoners were held in a police cell.

Overcrowding is more of an issue in prisons than at any time since the last major crisis period during the late 1990s, experts have warned, when prisoners were kept for extended periods in transport vehicles while they awaited cells to become available. 

While the situation has not yet become this serious, according to the Howard League, the government has been forced to initiate a procedure which allows the use of police cells to hold prisoners - with 350 of a potential 400 cells used in this way since February.

The issue of overcrowding is intrinsically linked to a staffing crisis, with prisons losing staff faster than they can replace them and further issues resulting from the knock-on effect of institutions losing experienced workers who are better equipped to deal with problems. 

Mick Pimblett of the Prison Officers’ Association, which represents the majority of prison staff, said that while increased prisoner numbers should mean an increase in staffing, “in practise this is not the case”. 

He said: “His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) is not able to recruit or retain staff, which leads to increased workloads for our members. HMPPS is continually relying on our members to work excessive hours which has a detrimental effect on their wellbeing. Our members are suffering from burnout.

“In addition, crowding leads to increased prisoner frustration due to the restrictions placed on regimes within prisons. These frustrations culminate in our members working in a hostile and dangerous environment which obviously affects their wellbeing.

“History has taught us that crowding of prisons will only lead to one thing and that is prison disturbances. If this Government continues with their policies on imprisonment, they need to resolve the recruitment and retention problems, starting with correct remuneration for the dangerous job that our members do on behalf of society.

Another union source told NationalWorld there is a “massive issue” with overcrowding right across the prison estate, saying there is “literally no space”. They said overcrowding at this level is leading to increased incidents of violence both against staff and between prisoners. 

They said that staff are increasingly being told that if they do not feel safe due to overcrowding and related issues, and they don’t receive support from management, they should “get themself to a place of safety”. 

They said: “We're not advocating unofficial action, but we're not there to see members put in difficult situations, and quite possibly being assaulted and badly injured.” 

Staff shortages feed into the overcrowding issue, which has compounded in the wake of Covid as more prisoners come into the system as backlogged court cases come to a conclusion.

As conditions for staff inside prisons have got worse, existing staff become overworked and more likely to need time off for illness or even leave the profession. Worsening conditions also makes the job less attractive for prospective staff, creating a vicious cycle. In some private prisons, staff are offered incentives to work overtime, which unions say is not a long term solution. 

And as NationalWorld revealed, the Community trade union wrote to the Justice Secretary Alex Chalk earlier this month, expressing concern about staff safety.

Roy Rickhuss expressed “serious concerns” regarding assaults on staff across the sector, citing research from a report by Community, which found that one in four justice, custodial and immigration sector workers have been assaulted at work at least once in the last year. 

Community primarily represents staff at the 14 prisons which are run by private contractors such as G4S, as well as workers at immigration centres such as Yarl's Wood.

Rickhuss has asked to meet Chalk to discuss problems across the sector, including a recent decision to roll out 13,000 new and improved body-worn video cameras across public sector  prisons only. 

There were 85,415 prisoners last week according to official Ministry of Justice (MoJ) data, with a maximum operational capacity of 86,201. That leaves additional available capacity at jut 786 - far lower than the headroom of 1,830 spaces that are needed. Prisons need this headroom to operate, given the need to provide accommodation for different types of prisoners – men or women, low or high security, for instance. 

Additional capacity is falling quickly, down from 957 the week before, and 1,184 before that. The same time last year prisons had a wiggle room of over 2,400 spaces, and the year before that around 2,600.

The MoJ has been accused of ‘shifting the goalposts’ on safety, with official figures showing that the usable operational capacity - which measures how many prisoners the entire estate can house - has risen significantly in the last year, while the operating margin - the safe amount of ‘headroom’ before full capacity - has continually been lowered and is now at almost half what it was in 2021.

Operation safeguard, which is used as a contingency measure to alleviate overcrowding by allowing prisoners to be placed short-term in police cells, has been in place for several months. 

Writing to the chair of the Justice Select Committee earlier this month, Prisons Minister Damian Hinds confirmed that since 6 March 350 police cells across the country have been made available, with plans to make the full 400 available.  

Since 20 February, 487 prisoners have been held in Safeguard places across 553 nights, with daily numbers peaking on the night of 8 March when 62 prisoners were held in a police cell. 

Andrew Neilson of the Howard League told NationalWorld that “in the absence of any attempt to arrest this increase” in prisoner numbers, “the government is effectively in a race against time to build new prison places.  “At the moment,” he said, “they're just about keeping their heads above water.”

A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: “We’re building six new prisons, creating an additional 20,000 places to deliver the biggest prison expansion in over a century while hiring thousands more prison officers.

“As the public would rightly expect, we’re also taking action to accelerate additional capacity in the immediate term, including rolling out hundreds of rapid deployment cells, and we are incredibly grateful to prison staff for their hard work and the commitment they show every day.”