Prisons: Crimes of Violence
(asked on 13th December 2022) - View Source
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of compensation to prison staff for assault injuries sustained in prison in each year since 2010.
Prison litigation data prior to 2016-17 could only be obtained by checking local case files and records at each prison, which would incur disproportionate cost. Figures for the total spend on prisoner-on-staff assault claims since 2016-17 are provided in the table below.
Year | Total spend on prisoner on staff assault claims (including legal costs) |
2016-17 | £1.8m |
2017-18 | £5.2m |
2018-19 | £3.3m |
2019-20 | £4.3m |
2020-21 | £5.4m |
2021-22 | £4.5m |
Violence against our hardworking staff is completely unacceptable and will never be tolerated. Any complaints involving prison staff are always fully investigated.