LINDA PENTZ GUNTER reports from the one of 2,700 protests against the Trump government’s power grabs, on a day when seven million people defied fear-mongering in a outpouring of joy and hope in what might be the biggest protest in US history

THE Prison Officers Association (POA) has long warned it’s impossible for the government to build its way out of the prison capacity crisis.
Instead we believe the billions of pounds earmarked for new jails should be invested in the ones we already have and in community support to reduce offending.
It’s therefore disappointing that the new Labour government is continuing the Tories’ programme of building a new generation of mega-prisons, each holding up to 2,000 inmates and run by the private sector for profit, when we know smaller units run by the public sector for public good are far more effective in supporting rehabilitation.

Our members face serious violence, crumbling workplaces and exposure to dangerous drugs — it is outrageous we still cannot legally use our industrial muscle to fight back and defend ourselves, writes STEVE GILLAN

Working in a high-risk sector, prison officers’ calls for proper PPE must be heeded – and the POA will be fighting to ensure effective protection at work is delivered, writes MARK FAIRHURST