New equipment alone can't solve this prisons crisis - Burgon

Richard Burgon MP, Labour's Shadow Justice Secretary, responding to the Government's announcement that it will spend just £2 million on new prison officer safety equipment, said:

"Violence in our prisons has spiralled out of control following the Conservatives' decision to axe thousands of prison officers and slash hundreds of millions of pounds from prison budgets.

“New equipment alone can't solve this prisons crisis, especially when there are still over 3,000 fewer prison officers than when the Conservatives came to office.

“The Government needs to stop tinkering around the edges, and instead use this month's budget to launch an emergency plan with substantial new Treasury funds to tackle the widespread understaffing and overcrowding that has made our prisons a danger to the officers, inmates and wider society.”