Call for stab vests for every prison officer

A woman who began a petition calling for prison officers to be given body armour said they should not just be used in high-risk facilities.

Claire Lewis from Washington suffered life-threatening injuries and "a deep psychological toll" when she was stabbed in the back with a broken bottle by an inmate while working at HMP Frankland in County Durham in 2010.

Minister for prisons, probation and reducing reoffending, James Timpson, said he wanted to "ensure prison officers working with the most dangerous offenders are properly protected".

But Lewis said: "You don't just get an angry prisoner in a high security estate, you can have someone in a lower category prison who can become violent too."

Lewis met members of the government on Thursday following a parliamentary debate on the issue in March, and said they discussed "the best way forward in the rollout of stab vests".

"I asked when it would commence, were the vests fit for purpose and would they be rolled out to all prison officers, which is what my petition was about," she said.

She was told they were being rolled out first in the high security estate prisons, mainly in the segregation units.

She said she felt "positivity" after the meeting but the vests needed to be used "across the board".

Mark Fairhurst, chair of the Prison Officers Association (POA), said his members were "vulnerable" and agreed with Lewis's call for body armour to be given to them in all categories of prison.

"It's the least prison officers deserve to protect them from violent, unpredictable prisoners," he said.

Timpson, thanked Lewis for her "tireless campaigning" on this "important issue".

"We are working as quickly as possible on the roll out of protective body armour to ensure prison officers working with the most dangerous offenders are properly protected," he said.

Lewis said her campaign had helped her come to terms with what happened to her.

"The impact of that attack is never going to leave me but this is helping, and I just live day to day," she said.

Follow BBC North East on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram.