Prison staff to demand use of stun guns in jails after HMP Frankland attack

Prison officers are demanding the ‘tactical use of taser’ after officers at HMP Frankland were attacked

Prison officers are calling on the justice secretary to allow the use of electric stun guns in the UK’s most dangerous jails following an attack on guards at HMP Frankland last week.

Mark Fairhurst, national chairman of the Prison Officers’ Association (POA), said they will make the demand when they meet with Shabana Mahmood on Wednesday.

The meeting comes after officers at HMP Frankland in County Durham were attacked with hot oil and homemade weapons by Manchester Arena bomb plotter Hashem Abedi.

A view of HMP Frankland in Durham (Tom Wilkinson/PA) (PA Archive)

“When we face life-threatening situations, we no longer have tactical options,” Mr Fairhurst told the BBC, saying officers needed more options if extendable batons and synthetic pepper spray fail to deal with a situation.

“We want specially trained staff on site who respond to incidents with the ability to deploy Taser to neutralise that threat”, he said.

In a statement, Ms Mahmood said "we must do to better protect our prison officers in the future".

The Prison Service said it will investigate whether frontline staff should be given protective body armour following Abedi’s attack.

Four prison officers were injured during the incident, with three sustaining serious injuries and taken to hospital, Counter Terrorism Policing North East said on Thursday.

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has pledged to carry out a review following the incident also suspended access to kitchens in separation units in prisons, where the attack is believed to have taken place in Frankland.

The probe is expected to report back its findings in the next few months but a chairperson to lead the independent review is yet to be appointed.

Ms Mahmood said: “I share the country’s shock and anger at the attack on our prison officers at HMP Frankland last weekend.

Prison officers are calling on the Justice Secretary to allow the use of electric stun guns in the UK’s most dangerous jails (PA) (PA Archive)

“It is clear there are further questions to answer, and more that must be done. For that reason, we are carrying out an independent review into these events.

“This will look into how this was able to happen, and what we must do to better protect our prison officers in the future.

“This review will look specifically at this attack, but also more widely at how separation centres are run.”

The justice secretary also said there will be an audit on carrying out 230 recommendations from 19 reviews looking at extremism in prisons.