Dangerous prisoners ‘should not have right to kettles in cells'
Dangerous prisoners should not be given the right to keep kettles in their cells, campaigners have said in the wake of a reported attack by the Southport killer on a prison officer.
Axel Rudakubana is believed to have thrown boiling water over an officer at HMP Belmarsh on Thursday in an alleged attack that is being investigated by police.
The reported incident has renewed concerns about the safety of prison officers, following an attack last month by Hashem Abedi, the Manchester Arena bomber, at another prison.
Abedi attacked three prison officers at HMP Frankland by throwing hot cooking oil and using 'home made weapons' to stab them, according to the Prison Officers' Association.
There have now been calls for much tighter rules on whether dangerous inmates should have access to their own kettles, as appears to have been the case with Rudakubana.
Ian Acheson, a former prison governor and former government adviser on extremism, said on Saturday: 'There is no 'rule' that mandated this. The ombudsman has no authority to mandate anything.
'Decisions about what is held in possession in a cell is at the discretion of governors, who should be applying dynamic risk assessments to control any potential harm based on previous or reasonably anticipated behaviour.
'This process seems to have fallen apart at HMP Belmarsh and other high security prisons where the rights of prisoners take precedence over safety of staff and a naive assumption that giving them things including potentially lethal weapons will appease them.
'The tail wags the dog, and officers are hospitalised as a consequence. It's no wonder new officers join and leave such a dangerous environment with increasing rapidity.'
Mark Fairhurst, the chairman of the Prison Officers' Association, said: 'I am calling for supermax facilities in our prisons, so that extremely violent offenders who pose a significant risk to staff can be controlled and contained. We cannot accept any risk to staff from criminals who are determined to carry on with their atrocities.'
Mr Fairhurst has previously called for a far tougher regime for dangerous prisoners in the UK, stating: 'We need a supermax regime. We model it on the US. We isolate them. They don't associate with other prisoners, they get the basic entitlements and they are cuffed every time they are unlocked. That would be for those who meet the criteria for a separation.'
He has also called for a ban on kitchen facilities in separation units and for stab vests and tasers to be issued to prison officers.
Tom Wheatley, the president of the Prison Governors' Association, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that prison officers did 'an incredibly difficult job' in 'overcrowded conditions'.
Although it remains unclear how Rudakubana reportedly got hold of the hot water, Mr Wheatley said it was 'lower risk' to allow prisoners to boil water in their rooms than have officers bring hot water to prisoners' cells.
'Prisoners have used all sorts of things to cause injury to other people,' he added. 'Pretty much anything can be utilised to cause harm to somebody else. What we're really concerned about is the intent of people to do so.'
Following the Belmarsh attack, the prison officer was taken to nearby Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woolwich as a precaution and is expected to return to work next week.
The number of assaults on staff in adult prisons in England and Wales per year has reached its highest level in a decade, according to data from the Ministry of Justice. Some 10,605 assaults on staff in male and female jails were recorded last year, up from 9,204 in 2023 and nearly three times the 3,640 in 2014.
On Friday, Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary, posted on X that prison violence had become a 'full-blown crisis' and called for Shabana Mahmood. the Justice Secretary, to act 'now'.
Rudakubana was sentenced to a minimum of 52 years in January after killing Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, Alice Aguiar, nine, and six-year-old Bebe King at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport on July 29 last year.
A public inquiry into the Southport murders began in April. In February, the Attorney General rejected calls for the Court of Appeal to review the length of Rudakubana's jail sentence.
Rudakubana's minimum term of 52 years means he cannot be considered for release until he has served that amount of time in prison.
Sir Nicholas Dakin, the justice minister, told Parliament in December that small travel kettles had been allowed to be in prisoners' possession for many years but could be removed following a risk assessment.
He said: 'If a specific risk is identified in relation to use of a kettle, or intelligence is received that one may be used in an assault, the kettle will be withdrawn until it is assessed that it is safe to return it.'
The Prison Service said: 'Police are investigating an attack on a prison officer at HMP Belmarsh. Violence in prison will not be tolerated and we will always push for the strongest possible punishment for attacks on our hard-working staff.'
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