- high-quality tech acts as visible deterrent to prisoners
behaving badly
- catches crime on video supporting prosecutions and protecting
hard-working staff
Every prison officer in England and Wales now has access to a
body-worn video camera while on shift to help keep them safe and
cut prison violence, the new Lord Chancellor has announced today
(28 April 2023).
KC confirmed 13,000 new and
improved cameras are now available across public sector prisons,
as he met staff at HMP Isis in London to mark his first week in
post.
It doubles the total available to be used every time an officer
is on duty, capturing challenging prisoner behaviour and how
staff have dealt with it, helping to stop false accusations from
prisoners.
It means staff can be more confident in the actions they take to
de-escalate tricky situations and a pilot study published in 2020
found they can improve trust between staff and prisoners.
These new devices also offer superior image and audio quality,
leading to improved evidence gathering which can speed up prison
adjudication processes, support criminal prosecutions and
potentially halt lengthy legal action – saving taxpayers’ money
and courts’ time.
They also help reduce the need to pay unnecessary compensation to
prisoners paid who have made up allegations.
For example, body-worn cameras recently proved their worth when a
prisoner’s claim to have been assaulted while resisting a
transfer to HMP Rochester was thrown out by police. Footage worn
throughout the incident found prison staff used reasonable force.
Lord Chancellor and Justice Secretary, KC, said:
These new, improved video cameras are proving highly effective at
preventing vexatious claims by prisoners, calming volatile
situations, and keeping our dedicated prison officers and our
prisons safe.
Other security measures including synthetic pepper spray, x-ray
body scanners and airport style security are helping turn
prisoners away from crime and towards purposeful activity.
The new cameras are the latest measure, building on our £100
million investment to improve safety in prisons and protect
frontline staff, adding to the roll-out of PAVA spray and
police-style restraints rolled out in men’s prisons in recent
years.
It follows the government toughening prison sentences for
assaults on emergency workers – including prison officers, by
raising maximum sentences to 12 months in 2018 and again to up to
2 years, through last year’s Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts
Act.
Jade Turner, Custodial Manager at HMP Styal said:
As prison officers, sometimes we have to deal with difficult
situations and I have found body worn cameras help make my job
safer, while reassuring prisoners we will work with them openly
and transparently.
Our game-changing X-ray body scanners have thwarted almost more
than 28,000 attempts to smuggle drugs, phones and weapons.
And in December we went further, striking the Crime in Prisons Referral
Agreement with Counter Terror Police and the Crown
Prosecution Service to ensure more offences by prisoners are
dealt with in the courts – toughening sentences for those guilty
of crime behind bars.
Notes to editors
- the cameras are produced by Motorola and have been rolled out
to 106 public sector prisons
- a pilot
study published in 2020 showed body worn cameras could:
- allow for more detailed examination of the events leading
up to and management incidents
- enhance evidence capture
- promote positive behaviour and interaction between staff
and prisoners
- help developing effective rehabilitative staff/prisoner
relationships; supporting transparency, trust and confidence
between staff and prisoners
- as of 31 December 2022, there are 21,632 prison-facing Band
3-5 officers across the public sector prison estate
