Responding to recent reporting on the shortage of Tornado squad riot officers in prisons, Adrian Axtell, Community’s National Officer for the Justice sector, said:
“The shortage of riot control officers is indicative of the wider staffing crisis in the prison service – a situation which is now a clear and present risk to the safety of our members in the justice sector. That’s one of the reasons why Community launched our landmark ‘Beyond Bars’ report last month.
“We need to see the government act now to develop a national plan to reduce assaults on staff. This should include changes to ensure tougher responses to assaults and the introduction of Minimum Safe Staffing levels in all private prison contracts.”
You can read Community and Public First’s report ‘Beyond bars: strategies to tackle the prisons crisis’ here: https://community-tu.org/landmark-2024-community-report-calls-for-urgent-overhaul-of-prison-system/#4067bae6
Community is the union for justice and custodial sector workers, representing thousands of members whose work is vital to our justice system and to public safety. Our members work for a range of organisations in the sector. We represent workers at private prisons, secure immigration centres, young offender institutions, courts, in prisoner escorting and much more. We are a modern trade union, campaigning for a better working world.
If you are a member of Community and need advice or support, please contact our Service Centre at help@community-tu.org or on 0800 389 6332.
© Community Trade Union 2025
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