Review into body armour for prison staff after Abedi HMP Frankland attack

The Prison Service will conduct a snap review into whether protective body armour should be made available to front-line staff, the justice secretary has said.

Shabana Mahmood’s announcement comes after Manchester Arena bomber Hashem Abedi threw hot oil at prison officers and stabbed them with makeshift weapons at HMP Frankland on Saturday.

In a statement, Mahmood also said that alongside an independent Ministry of Justice review into the attack, she would now be auditing the implementation of previous review recommendations into extremism in UK prisons.

On Wednesday the Prison Officers’ Association (POA) union called on Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to strengthen security for its members.

The union’s general secretary Steve Gillan said he was writing to the prime minister about the issue, which would include the supply of stab-proof vests for staff.

A prison officer at HMP Frankland, in County Durham, also called for stab vests to be made available, warning staff could die unless security measures are urgently changed across all UK prisons.

Speaking to the BBC on condition of anonymity, the prison officer said: “I think stab vests would help us feel safer and I don’t get why they won’t give us those.

“There needs to be an urgent change in security measures or someone is going to die.”

It is thought that the Prison Service’s snap review into protective body armour will present its findings in the next few months, and will consult unions.

Since the attack, all prisoners in the separation unit where Abedi was held at HMP Frankland have been moved. Abedi himself has been moved to London’s high-security Belmarsh prison, while the other six prisoners in have been moved to HMP Woodhill, a source told the BBC.

Access to kitchens in the UK’s separation centres – used to house a small number of inmates deemed to be the most dangerous and extremist – was suspended by the government following the incident.

“But it is clear there are further questions to answer, and more that must be done,” Mahmood added.

Mahmood said she knew “full well the dangers of the warped ideology of Islamist extremists” and added: “I will not tolerate it within our prisons.”

She added she would also audit the carrying out of 230 recommendations from 19 reviews looking at extremism in prisons over the last nine years.

“Wherever I find there is opportunity to strengthen our defences and better protect our staff and the public, I will do so,” Mahmood said.

Abedi planned and prepared the Manchester Arena attack in 2017 along with his brother, the suicide bomber Salman Abedi. He was jailed for life with a minimum 55 years in prison after being convicted of murdering 22 people.

He was moved to a separation centre in Frankland after carrying out an earlier attack on prison officers in Belmarsh prison in 2020, for which three years and 10 months were added to his sentence.

Four prison officers were injured during the incident on Saturday. One prison officer remains in hospital with serious injuries.