29-05-2025
Prisoner attacks officer with boiling water at high-security jail
A prison officer was scalded by boiling water while another was left with a broken jaw in violent attacks at one of Britain's high-security jails.
The two separate attacks took place at HMP Whitemoor in Cambridgeshire this week, which houses some of the UK's most dangerous criminals.
One officer suffered a fractured jaw and bleeding on the brain after he was assaulted by a prisoner in a workshop, while another was burned when an inmate threw a kettle of boiling water at him when he entered a cell.
Last month, convicted murderer John Mansfield was killed by another inmate at the same prison. That attack is alleged to have taken place in HMP Whitemoor's close supervision centre, where prisoners are supposed to be closely monitored.
There have already been demands for tougher restrictions on kettles in cells for dangerous offenders after the Southport killer Axel Rudakubana allegedly threw boiling water over an officer at HMP Belmarsh on May 8.
The attacks at HMP Whitemoor came just weeks after Hashem Abedi, the brother of the Manchester Arena bomber, threw hot cooking oil over three officers. He then stabbed them with two makeshift knives fashioned from baking trays in the kitchen of a separation unit at the high security Frankland jail in county Durham.
The Prison Officers' Association (POA) has called for all terrorists and violent prisoners who assault officers to be held in US-style 'supermax' units or separate jail where they are only allowed out of their cells for one hour a day while handcuffed and supervised by three officers.
Jonathan Hall, KC, the independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, is assessing ways of segregating dangerous offenders including Islamist terrorists after the attack by Abedi, who is serving life for his part in the murder of 22 people in the Manchester Arena bomb.
Mr Hall has said he will look at the 'human consequences' of segregating prisoners in such a way that it reduces the risk of violence to 'near zero.'
'Supermax' wing for high risk
One option would be to create a 'bespoke' supermax regime such as that found at ADX Florence in Colorado, which holds prisoners who are such a risk that they cannot be housed even in maximum security prisons.
The inmates are confined for the most part of the day in single cells with facilities made of poured, reinforced concrete to deter self-harm, and are under 24-hour supervision carried out with high staff to inmate ratios.
Mark Fairhurst, chair of the POA, said: 'We need a supermax wing or unit somewhere on the prison estate where we put terrorists and extremely violent prisoners in complete lockdown. It would be for people who are intent on causing serious harm.
'We cannot go on like this. There is going to be a murder of an officer on duty. Things need to change. The problem is the violent people we are now locking up don't care. They don't fear consequences. If they are already facing a life sentence, they are not worried by a couple more years in jail.
'We need lockdown jails where people who commit crimes like that are locked down 23 hours a day. Why not lock them down if they are going to be violent to staff?'
Record high jail assaults
Some 10,605 assaults on staff in male and female jails were recorded in 2024, a record high up from 9,204 in 2023 and nearly three times the 3,640 in 2014.
Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood has already ordered a rapid review into whether prison officers should be issued with stab vests to protect them, and a trial to train and equip selected jail staff with Tasers.
Access to kitchen facilities in separation centres have been suspended after Abedi's attack.
A prison service spokesman said: 'Police are investigating two unacceptable attacks on members of staff at HMP Whitemoor.
'We will not tolerate assaults on hardworking prison officers and will always push for the strongest punishments against perpetrato
