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The union representing prison officers has said inmates should be banned from cooking in jail, with staff fearing copycat incidents after the brother of the Manchester Arena bomber attacked three officers at HMP Frankland.
Hashem Abedi, a convicted terrorist who was jailed for life after helping his suicide bomber brother Salman Abedi carry out the Manchester Arena attack in 2017, is alleged to have set upon staff with hot cooking oil and improvised blades.
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has said there will be a “full review” into how the incident was allowed to happen, alongside a separate criminal investigation. Counter-terrorism police are leading the investigation into the “serious assault”.
A female officer who was injured in the attack was treated in hospital and discharged, while her two male colleagues remain seriously ill in hospital, Mark Fairhurst, the chair of the Prison Officers’ Association, said.
He said that Abedi had produced two homemade knives, adding: “We think that he’s made knives out of a baking tray from that kitchen area.”
“One [officer] had a severed artery, was stabbed in the neck, and one’s got severe stab wounds in the back, including a punctured lung,” Fairhurst said, adding that the officers had also suffered third degree burns.
The attack took place in a separation centre at HMP Frankland in County Durham, which houses fewer than 10 prisoners, but is where those considered to be the most dangerous and extremist are held.
“I’m absolutely furious that terrorist prisoners, who pose such a significant risk to national security, are allowed the same freedoms and privileges as prisoners on normal location,” Fairhurst said. “We should not be allowing prisoners in separation centres to access cooking facilities, so they have the resources and implements that can inflict violence on staff.”
“There’s only one way to reduce the risk and prevent this ever happening again, and to reduce the risk, you have to stop prisoners’ access to kitchens, because we’re worried about copycat incidents,” Fairhurst said. “They get prison food, they get three meals a day. Why do they need to cook?”
Fairhurst said the incident had highlighted the dangerous realities of being a prison officer and that more investment was needed from the Treasury in order to improve conditions for prison staff.
“This just highlights how violent our workplace is, that your life is on the line every single shift, every single time you go on duty you’re subject to threats, abuse and violence every single day, and let’s be honest, we haven’t got the adequate protections in place,” he said.
“We deal with exactly the same incidents as police officers, exactly the same violence, the same hostilities, yet we don’t have the same protections. We don’t even have stab-proof vests.”
He said the union was requesting an urgent meeting with the justice secretary, Shabana Mahmood, “to discuss what happened and put our case forward to issue prison officers on the frontline stab-proof vests”. He said that, pending the review, access to prison kitchens “should be removed immediately, and it should never be allowed again”.
Fairhurst also said that the promised review into the incident should be carried out independently.
“If they’re serious about improving conditions for staff and clamping down on violence, then they will commission that independent review,” he said. “We don’t want it kept in-house, we want an independent expert on terror to look at what went wrong and make recommendations.”
The MoJ has not yet said who will carry out the review, or whether cooking facilities for prisoners will be suspended in the interim.
“Our thoughts remain with the two prison officers still in hospital as they recover,” an MoJ spokesperson said.
“There will be a full review into how this attack was able to happen, alongside the separate police inquiry. The government will do whatever it takes to keep our hardworking staff safe.”
Responding to the assault, Shabana Mahmood, wrote on X on Saturday evening: “I am appalled by the attack of three brave officers at HMP Frankland today. My thoughts are with them and their families.
“The police are now investigating. I will be pushing for the strongest possible punishment. Violence against our staff will never be tolerated.”
