Call for prison officers to carry batons as violence in jails soars

'It makes no sense. You can carry a baton on Monday and Tuesday but not on Wednesday,' one prison officer said.

Violence in prisons is escalating with a 137% increase in incidents in three years.

Last year there were 891 violent incidents in prisons — 110 assaults on staff, 663 prisoner-on-prisoner assaults, and 118 restraint interventions. In 2022, there were 606 violent incidents, in 2021 there were 401, and in 2020 there were 376.

One prison officer was slashed in the face this year while the prisoner allegedly threatened to stab them to death.

Despite the escalating violence, prison officers are not allowed to carry batons during regular in-prison duty. The Prison Officers Association (POA) is now calling for batons to be introduced to protect members.

A 2016 State Claims Agency report states that prison officers should not carry batons as they constitute a weapon under Irish legislation. But some prison officers said that the eight-year old report’s recommendation is nonsensical and dangerous. 

Prison officers are allowed to carry batons in the National Violence Reduction Unit — a specialist unit which deals with some of the country’s most violent criminals — and while escorting prisoners outside prison.

“It makes no sense. You can carry a baton on Monday and Tuesday but not on Wednesday,” one prison officer said. “It’s a simple measure that could save lives. We have to go with our bare hands to a conflict.

If a prisoner has a knife we should be carrying a tool to help deal with it. But now we have to wait until someone is slashed before we can go and get a baton to intervene.

Prisoners usually use weapons in assaults, like a snooker ball in a sock or knives made from razor blades taped to toothbrushes, the prison officer said.

Speaking at the POA annual conference in Sligo, deputy general secretary Gabriel Keaveny said that the assault figures “are unacceptable, and are linked to overcrowding". 

The prison population has reached a record high of more than 4,900 which the POA has said is dangerous and unacceptable. Prisoner numbers have increasing by 760 in the last 18 months with only 43 extra prison spaces added in that time.

“We must face the fact that violent incidents are much more likely to occur in our present overcrowded prison environment, where prisoners are not getting sufficient access to non-cell facilities, such as workshops and recreation,” Mr Keaveny said.

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“Earlier this year one of our members had his face slashed after he intervened with a prisoner who was trying to escape. The prisoner is reported to have said, “I’ll stab the face off you, Ill stab you to death”, as he carried out the assault.

“Last year a female prison officer was left with life-changing injuries sustained in an attack by a prisoner. Each of these brutal assaults has its own separate story, the common thread is that these assaults are on our members, as they carry out their duties on behalf of the State.

Despite repeated requests for appropriate levels of PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) the POA said it is still working to access incapacitant spray, concealed batons and conflict resolution dogs.