Overview

• On May 30, a 25-year-old officer at HMP Long Lartin was airlifted to hospital in stable condition after an inmate stabbed him with a flick-knife believed to have been flown in by a drone.
• HMP Long Lartin, a Category A prison housing over 600 inmates—including Thomas Cashman and Vincent Tabak—had been flagged for unserviceable CCTV and unchecked drone contraband.
• The Prison Officers’ Association has demanded stab-proof vests, supermax-style segregation units and advanced drone-blocking technology to protect staff.
• Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood has ordered a rapid review on distributing body armour and is piloting tasers, while Tory proposals call for specialist teams armed with stun grenades and lethal weapons.
• The attack highlights a decade-high surge in staff assaults and chronic overcrowding that experts warn is undermining safety across England and Wales’s prison estate.