A frontline role most protective gear discussions leave out
When people talk about who needs protective clothing, the conversation usually goes straight to door supervisors, retail staff and delivery workers. Prison and custody staff rarely come up, despite facing one of the most consistent assault rates of any UK occupation, working in an environment they can't leave, surrounded by people they can't screen for weapons the way security staff can turn someone away at a door.
The numbers most people haven't seen
Ministry of Justice figures paint a stark picture. There were 10,326 assaults on prison staff by prisoners in the 12 months to September 2025, of which 931 were classed as serious assaults. In the 12 months to March 2026, the assault rate stood at 113 incidents per 1,000 prisoners overall. Break that down by estate and the picture gets worse in one specific area: assaults on staff in the female prison estate reached a record 311 per 1,000 prisoners, more than double the male estate rate, and still rising.
These aren't abstract figures. They represent officers going to work in a building where the person in front of them has already shown, statistically, a meaningful chance of assaulting a member of staff before the year is out.
The stab vest question the POA has been raising for years
For a long time, prison officers in England and Wales were not issued stab vests as standard. The Prison Officers Association had been calling for them "for several years", according to the union, and says previous requests were consistently turned down, on the basis that vests "look too militaristic and might intimidate prisoners".
That position shifted following high-profile assaults on staff in 2025, including the attack at HMP Frankland that drew national attention. In 2025 the government made protective armour mandatory in some environments and announced funding to equip up to 10,000 prison officers, with 5,000 stab-resistant vests earmarked specifically for officers working in long-term and high-security prisons.
It's a significant step. It's also a narrow one. Vests funded so far are targeted at high-security establishments, which leaves officers in category B, C and D prisons, along with staff in the female estate where assault rates are now highest, working without the same provision.
Why this is a different problem to slash protection on the street
Custody settings aren't the same risk environment as a door or a shop floor. Bladed weapons are officially prohibited, so the greater and more common risk in most prisons is improvised weapons, punches, and impact rather than a knife attack in the way the public imagines it. That's why the relevant protective standard for this environment is typically stab and impact resistance rather than the cut-resistant clothing suited to a street-level slash risk. It's a genuinely different specification, and one worth understanding rather than assuming "protective clothing" means the same thing in every setting.
The question no one's finished answering
The 2025 funding commitment was a real, overdue acknowledgement that prison officers face occupational risk most other public-facing roles don't. But with assault rates still highest in exactly the estate the current funding doesn't prioritise, and with the numbers barely moving year on year, the honest answer is that provision still lags behind the evidence. For an occupation with one of the starkest assault statistics in the country, protective equipment shouldn't need years of campaigning and a high-profile incident to get the conversation started.
