Assaults on prison officers increase by 50%

Assaults on prison officers increased by 50% last year — and almost one-third of them occurred in a young offenders institution.

According to the Prison Officers Association, one of the latest attacks occurred this week in Mountjoy, when an inmate tried to bite a male prison officer on the arm and punched his female colleague in the face.

Figures released by the Department of Justice show there were 154 assaults, or one almost every two days, by prisoners on staff in 2013. That compared with 107 in 2012.