THE NUMBER of prisoner-on-prisoner and prison staff assaults at HMP Hewell is at its highest in the past five years, new figures have shown.
In 2024, the jail reported having 979 inmates, and during 2024/25 369 prisoner-on-prisoner assaults were recorded – up from 130 assaults five years earlier.
The prison population across the UK has increased annually for the last 30 years, rising from 43,000 in 1994 to over 88,000 in 2024.
Despite this, the number of uniformed officers employed to care for and protect those committed by the courts has remained almost static.
The government’s ‘Plan for Change’ aims to build 14,000 extra prison places by 2031, and the new investment will help combat the flow of contraband, which creates unsafe environments in jails.
Legal Expert, which obtained the figures via a freedom of information request, also reported an increase on how many prison staff assaults had taken place at Hewell Prison over the past five years.
The number of assaults on staff at the prison has sky-rocketed from 77 in 2021/22 to 169 in 2024/25 – a 119 per cent increase.
Patrick Mallon, a solicitor at legal firm JF Law said: “The Prison Service has a legal duty of care to protect individuals in its custody and, where it has failed to do so, for example by not segregating a vulnerable inmate, that individual may be entitled to seek compensation for their injuries through a personal injury claim.
“Similarly, prison officers have a right to a safe workplace.
“The employer’s duty of care extends to providing adequate training, resources, and a secure environment to protect their staff from harm.”
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: “These statistics once again lay bare the extent of the crisis facing our prisons – with levels of violence, assaults on staff and self-harm far too high.
“The Government has made it clear it will do whatever it can to protect our hardworking staff – which is why we are trialing tasers in prisons and mandated protective body armour for prison officers working with the most dangerous offenders.
“But it is clear fundamental change is needed, which is why we’re also reforming our jails so they create better citizens not better criminals.”
The prison said it continued to work to understand and reduce the causes of violence and challenge those who perpetrated through the use of adjudications, incentives and formal investigations where relevant.
