UK Prison Service ‘In Meltdown,’ Says Union Chief

Prison Officers Association (POA) chair Mark Fairhurst urges government action over increasingly violent working conditions for prison staff

A view through the bars of Birmingham Prison in Winson Green in Birmingham, England, on Aug. 20, 2018. Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

Pressures from “rocketing” levels of self-harm, suicide, and violence within British jails are pushing prison officers to walk away from their jobs, a national union representative has said.

Mark Fairhurst, chair of the Prison Officers Association (POA), said the service is no longer in crisis but “in meltdown”—and government action is needed urgently.