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<p>The number of incidents of a prisoner assault leading to a prison staff member
requiring hospital treatment 2018-2022 can be found in the attached table. Data on
staff assaults for the calendar year 2023 is subject to future publication on 25 April,
in ‘Safety in custody: quarterly update to December 2023’.</p><p>Changes were made
to the recording of assaults in April 2017 that affects the reporting of hospitalisation.
This change means that a comparable time series for this question can only be provided
from 2018 onwards.</p><p>Staff must be able to expect a safe and decent work environment.
We will not tolerate any violence against prison officers, and prisoners who are violent
towards staff will face the full consequences of their actions.</p><p>We are committed
to making prisons a safe place to work and providing prison officers with the right
support, training and tools to empower them to do their jobs.</p><p>To protect staff
and prisoners in very serious assaults, we have rolled out PAVA – a synthetic pepper
spray – for use by prison officers in the adult male estate. Staff are able to use
the PAVA spray where there is serious violence or an imminent or perceived risk of
it.</p><p>We have rolled out a new Body Worn Video Camera system which has increased
the overall number of cameras across public sector prisons to over 13,000. This enables
every operational band 3-5 officer on shift to wear a camera. They are supported by
a new Policy Framework which mandates the wearing of the cameras.</p>
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