Prison guard has throat slashed by lag in latest terrifying attack behind bars
Two prison officers have been attacked at HMP Woodhill in Milton Keynes in separate incidents and in one of the assaults a guard had their throat slashed requiring stitches
A prison officer had their throat slashed by an inmate using an improvised weapon in a latest worrying attack on guards.
The incident happened at HMP Woodhill in Milton Keynes, said the prison officers union, and it is understood that a staff member required stitches after their neck and ear was cut in the attack. And there was also another violent assault on an officer at the jail by an inmate who was locked up on terrorism charges.
The Prison Officers Association said two officers were injured in separate incidents at HMP Woodhill, where one of the officers was allegedly attacked by an inmate detained under the Terrorism Act 2008.
The union also reported a prison officer had a TV thrown at him and a female officer sustained a broken arm after a prisoner faked an epileptic fit at Gartree Prison.
POA general secretary Steve Gillan said: 'Escalating levels of violence are out of control in the prison service in England and Wales. We need action to protect prison officers before there is a fatality.'
Geoff Willetts, of the Prison Officers Association, said in a statement on X: 'I am advised that one of our members at HMP Woodhill was attacked by a prisoner who was detained under the Terrorism act of 2008. The officer was assaulted and injured while carrying out his duties.
'In a separate incident at the same jail a prisoner was told to return to his cell, this resulted in a specialist officer being slashed with an improvised weapon sustaining injuries to the neck and ear. The officer attended hospital attention where they required stitches and surgical glue applied to their injuries.
'Meanwhile at Gartree Prison, Market Harborough staff attended a medical emergency where a prisoner faked an epileptic fit. A prison officer who attended to assist was assaulted then had a TV thrown at him and a female officer sustained a broken arm.'
The Prison Service is conducting a 'snap review' into the use of protective body armour for prison officers, and the use of tasers is being trialled in jails, after an attack on prison officers by Manchester Arena bomb plotter Hashem Abedi last month.
Four guards were attacked with hot oil and homemade weapons at HMP Frankland in County Durham in April, with the inmate transferred to Belmarsh after the incident. And police are also now investigating an alleged attack on a prison officer at HMP Belmarsh by Southport triple killer Axel Rudakubana.
The 18-year-old allegedly used a kettle in his cell to heat water up and then poured boiling water over the officer on May 8. The prison officer was taken to hospital as a precautionary measure, did not require further treatment and was discharged later that evening, it is understood.
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