The staffing crisis in UK prisons has been laid bare as new figures show thousands of the most experienced officers have quit the service, leaving jails vulnerable to increased violence, instability and control by gangs.
Analysis by The Independent shows that some 60 per cent of officers across UK prisons had more than 10 years of experience in 2017, but that figure had plunged to around 30 per cent by June this year. More than 1,000 of these more experienced prison officers have been lost in the past year alone.
