Prison officers demand cooking ban, stab-proof vests

Following a violent incident at HMP Frankland, where Hashem Abedi, a convicted terrorist, attacked three prison officers with hot cooking oil and improvised knives, the Prison Officers’ Association is calling for a ban on inmate cooking. Mark Fairhurst, chair of the association, said: “We should not be allowing prisoners in separation centres to access cooking facilities.” The Ministry of Justice has announced a full review of the incident, with counter-terrorism police leading the investigation. Fairhurst called for an urgent meeting with Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood to discuss safety measures, including the provision of stab-proof vests for officers. He said the MoJ had resisted the use of stab vests because they may appear intimidating, an excuse he described as “weak” and “pathetic”. Fairhurst also called for the tactical deployment of tasers in prisons to protect officers and the introduction of a “supermax” regime for terrorist prisoners. He asked: “Why are we scared of upsetting terrorists?” Finally, writing in the Express, Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary, says prison governors are “appeasing” Islamist extremist inmates, who are controlling wings in many high-security prisons, and rather than isolating them. “the system is protecting them – not officers or the public.”