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Prison officers from Bedford jail protesting over unsafe conditions last week
AS MANY as five HMP Bedford staff members were hospitalised at the weekend as further violence erupted at the crisis-hit jail, the Prison Officers’ Association (POA) said today.
The union said that the warders needed hospital treatment after a major disturbance at Bedford before “riot squads with the support of dog sections and local staff … regained control.”
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has denied that a riot squad was deployed, saying that there was no threat to the wider public and that four members of staff had been hospitalised.
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
MARK FAIRHURST highlights the main issues facing officers in a long neglected service, and raised by front-line delegates at POA conference last week, including understaffing, violence, bullying and the ongoing denial of workers’ right to strike
