Press Releases

Responding to the speech made at the Prison Officers Association Conference by the Prisons Minister Lord Timpson, Steve Gillan, General Secretary of the Prison Officers Association said: 

“The prisons of England and Wales are chronically overcrowded - they are currently operating at 99% capacity. This is having a very destabilising effect, with soaring levels of violence against staff and prisoners. The pressures facing our members are intolerable. This is not new, we have been warning the Government about this for years.

Geoff Willetts of the Prison Officers Association said: “I am advised that one of our members at HMP Woodhill was attacked by a prisoner who was detained under the Terrorism act of 2008. The Officer was assaulted and injured while carrying out his duties.

The National Chair of the Union representing the UKs 34,000 Prison Officers has condemned Government and the Ministry of Justice inaction over the crisis in the prison system as he opened the Prison Officers Association Conference in Eastbourne today.  

“Urgent action is required to support Prison Officers who have an increased vulnerability to Post Traumatic Stress” a Union Leader has said, following the publication of a new report. 

Prison Officers from across the UK will attend one of the most important Conferences for the Union in decades. 

The POA has claimed that the outcome of a Review into the levels of Bullying, Harassment, Discrimination and Victimisation within His Majesty’s Probation and Prison Service, vindicates the views and experiences of its members.

Prison Officers’ Union Leaders have welcomed an announcement by Justice Secretary, Shabana Mahmood to extend the use of PAVA, an incapacitant pepper spray to a select number of staff at three youth detention centres in Werrington, Wetherby and Feltham. 

Responding to reports of a violent incident at Lowdham Grange Prison, Geoff Willetts the NEC Rep for the Midlands of the Prison Officers' Association said, 

Leaders of the POA have reacted angrily to a vicious attack on three Prison Officers working in a separation centre at HMP Frankland in County Durham.