More than 50 staff at the Category B prison, which holds around 1,200, men have walked out, saying they do not feel safe there, with the Prison Officers’ Association (POA) saying the jail is: “flooded with drugs, mobile phones and weapons”.
Mike Rolfe, of the POA, said there had been a number of assaults on staff, and packages of “legal highs” were said to have been thrown over the perimeter walls.
“The jail is flooded with drugs, mobile phones and weapons. There are concerns for health and safety of staff, and they have decided to stay outside until they can seek assurances from management that their concerns will be addressed,” Mr Rolfe said.
“Staff have said that if there’s an emergency inside the prison, they will send teams in to deal with it.”
The Prison Service said all inmates would remain in their cells and there was “no danger to the wider public”.
How can it be that the prison is flooded with drugs and phones. Surely the PO are in charge. Does upper management want an environment, where the PO, cannot even attempt to carry out their duties. Surely the guards are in charge and not the prisoners. No brainier. Mind you when you look at the institutions that look after kids in social care, you can see the mentality of the so called upper management. Terrified to allow highly trained people to do their jobs. Joined up thinking is what’s required.
John, you hit the nail on the head, who is in charge??? it appears the inmates!!
its a shame the staff feel they need to take this sort of action, to drive home the obvious “foreseeable risks”