Scale of prison officer injuries emerges following new recording system

A new recording system has revealed that far greater numbers of prison officers are injured by inmates than was previously reflected in official statistics. New figures published by the Irish Prison Service for ‘restraint interventions’ show that there were 137 incidents in 2018. This compares to 91 incidents in 2017, when such incidents began to be counted.

Restraint interventions cover situations where a prisoner is not complying, including where a prisoner is assaulting another inmate, and officers are injured trying to restrain them.