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<p>The Government publishes data about violence in prisons every quarter. The latest
figures for assaults on staff can be found in table 8e of the <em>Safety in custody
summary tables to March 2020</em>, at <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/safety-in-custody-quarterly-update-to-march-2020"
target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/safety-in-custody-quarterly-update-to-march-2020</a>.
They are broken by year, month and prison.</p><p>We will never tolerate violence against
our hard-working staff, which is why we are spending £100 million to bolster prison
security and clamp down on the weapons, drugs and mobile phones that fuel violence
and crime behind bars. This money will fund tough airport-style security, body scanners
and phone-blocking technology.</p><p>We are also giving officers tools like PAVA pepper
spray and body-worn cameras to make their jobs safer.</p><p>Our Assaults on Emergency
Workers Act increased the maximum penalty for those who attack prison officers to
12 months, and we recently announced we will double the penalty further to two years.</p>
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