00:00The latest figures reveal that prison officer experience levels are at their lowest point
00:05since 2010. Last month, MP Graham Morris, who chairs a cross-parliamentary group on justice,
00:13warned that the officer statistics released by the government could lead to a vicious cycle of
00:19violence in British jails. Chris Atkins, who was released from prison in 2019 after being jailed
00:26at HMP Wandsworth for fraud, claimed the previous government were deliberately pensioning off
00:31a lot more of the more experienced prison guards to save money, but that the quote-unquote
00:38old-timers were the ones who really knew which way was up inside the prison. Instead, he told the
00:46press association, inexperienced officers are more likely to lock down prisoners, leading to fewer
00:51opportunities for rehabilitation, which can lead to more re-offending. He also said the resulting
00:57frustration in prisoners could result in violence. The data showed there were just over 22,000 prison
01:05officers in full-time equivalent employment at the end of last year. The total length of experience
01:12among staff in the prison service was just under 215,000 years. This is a sharp fall compared with
01:19December 2010, when there were 24,500 full-time equivalent prison officers who had just under 330,000 years of
01:29experience.
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