Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many serious assaults on staff there were in HM Prison (a) Belmarsh, (b) Feltham, (c) Isis, (d) Pentonville, (e) Thameside, (f) Wandsworth and (g) Wormwood Scrubs in each year since 2010.
Answered on
19 March 2015
The National Offender Management Service (NOMS) does not tolerate violence of any kind in prison and any assault is treated extremely seriously. A new joint protocol produced by the National Offender Management Service, Crown Prosecution Service and Association of Chief Police Officers was introduced on 27 February 2015. This puts robust and consistent arrangements in place to ensure that where possible, assaults on prison staff will be referred to the police for investigation and will be prosecuted through the courts.
Figures for serious assaults on staff at (a) Belmarsh, (b) Feltham, (c) Isis, (d) Pentonville, (e) Thameside, (f) Wandsworth and (g) Wormwood Scrubs in each year between 2010 and 2013 are provided in table 1.
Table 1: Serious (1) assaults on staff, 2010 to 2013
2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | |
Belmarsh | 3 | 3 | 10 | 3 |
Feltham | 10 | 4 | 5 | 13 |
Isis (2) | 0 | 5 | 3 | 7 |
Pentonville | 7 | 3 | 2 | 7 |
Thameside (3) | - | - | 0 | 16 |
Wandsworth | 6 | 3 | 3 | 4 |
Wormwood Scrubs | 8 | 12 | 9 | 3 |
Key: ‘-‘ Establishment not operational
Notes on table:
(1) An assault is classified as serious if it complies with the definition set out in Prison Service Instruction 9/2014 the Incident Management Manual.
(2) Isis opened in July 2010
(3) Thameside opened in March 2012
Figures for prisoner assaults on staff at (a) Belmarsh, (b) Feltham, (c) Isis, (d) Pentonville, (e) Thameside, (f) Wandsworth and (g) Wormwood Scrubs in each year between 2010 and 2013 are provided in table 2
Table 2: Assaults on staff, 2010 to 2013
| 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 |
Belmarsh | 20 | 24 | 34 | 18 |
Feltham | 124 | 119 | 112 | 141 |
Isis | 9 | 50 | 66 | 56 |
Pentonville | 78 | 96 | 81 | 71 |
Thameside | - | - | 51 | 168 |
Wandsworth | 59 | 68 | 30 | 21 |
Wormwood Scrubs | 67 | 86 | 102 | 82 |
The National statistics for prisoner assaults on staff are published quarterly in the Safety in Custody statistics bulletin. Recent publications can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/safety-in-custody-statistics and https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/399135/safety-in-custody-assaults-sep-14.xls. The next publication on 30 April 2015 will include statistics for 2014.