Renewed calls for “body protection for all” working in prison

Former prison officer Claire Lewis has renewed her campaign to demand that all officers receive stab proof vests whilst on duty. 

Ms Lewis, who was stabbed by a prisoner with a broken bottle whilst working in HMP Frankland in 2010, visited Parliament before the May bank holiday break to meet ministers.

Prisons’ Minister Lord Timpson has said he wants to “ensure all officers working with the most dangerous offenders are given protection”. Last September the Government announced that the number of stab vests available to prison staff in England and Wales would be increased from 750 to “up to 10,000”, including 5,000 “specifically to equip every officer working in long-term and high-security prisons”.  

However, Ms Lewis argues that all officers deserve the equipment, as it is not possible to anticipate from where and whom attacks will come, particularly with the prevalence of dangerous narcotics within prisons.

She said, after the meeting, that she felt “positivity”, but that the vests need rolling out across all of the prison estate and not just in high-security jails. She is supported in this view by Mark Fairhurst, Chair of the Prison Officers Association, who said his members feel “vulnerable” and that all of them require the protection that stab proof vests would provide.

Lord Timpson said he thanked Ms Lewis for her “tireless campaigning on this important issue”. Ms Lewis told the BBC: “The impact of that attack is never going to leave me but this is helping, and I just live day to day.”