Overview

• Only Operational Response and Resilience Unit teams are carrying Taser 7, which fires two barbed darts at 50,000 volts (dropping to 1,500 volts on contact) and allows a second shot if the first misses
• The pilot forms part of a £40 million package that includes £10 million for anti-drone measures such as reinforced windows and netting
• Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood expects to assess trial data in the autumn before deciding on broader Taser deployment across the custodial estate
• Front-line officers in high-security jails remain without the bespoke stab vests pledged in June due to individual fitting requirements
• Ministry of Justice data show prisons in England and Wales at 99% capacity and link overcrowding and understaffing to a record 10,605 assaults on staff last year