Overview

• Officers in close supervision, separation and segregation units across England and Wales will be issued stab-resistant vests under the new mandate
• A prison officer stabbed at HMP Long Lartin last weekend underwent emergency surgery and is now in stable condition
• Jonathan Hall KC has been appointed to lead an inquiry into assaults at HMP Frankland, including an attack by Hashem Abedi involving makeshift knives and hot cooking oil
• The Ministry of Justice has suspended kitchen access in separation units after inmates are believed to have fashioned weapons from baking trays
• The Prison Officers’ Association is calling for US-style “supermax” facilities for violent offenders, and shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick warned that staff remain at risk