Government wins legal battle over 'unlawful' prison officer walkout
The Government has won an injunction to bring an immediate end to a mass walkout by prison officers who are taking industrial action over safety concerns.
Thousands of prison officers have stopped work today amid claims jails are in "meltdown".
The Government successfully applied for a court order at the High Court to end the action and order staff to return to their jobs immediately.
However, Prison Officers Association (POA) officials have said they will defy any order to return to work.
Mr Justice Kerr, sitting in London, heard the urgent application for an injunction to "restrain" the POA from "inducing any form of industrial action".
He regarded the application as "very urgent", saying that a "number of incidents" had occurred in prisons as up to 80% of staff took some sort of action in the majority of prisons.
He added the situation was "very concerning indeed".
Derek Stanton, a committee member of the Manchester POA, said: "I have been in this job for 28 years, this is the most dangerous I have ever seen it."
Meanwhile, the shadow justice secretary Richard Burgon said the Government was "failing to address a prisons violence crisis which is leaving staff and prisoners in a dangerous situation."
Responding to an urgent question on the walkout in the House of Commons, Justice Secretary Liz Truss said: "Prison officers do a tough and difficult job and I've been clear that we need to make our prisons more safe and secure."
She said that her team had already put in place extra measures to make staff feel safe, such as recruiting 2,500 extra front-line staff, and introducing body-worn cameras.
Ms Truss added that they were also creating a £3 million major crimes taskforce, and rolling out new tests for psychoactive substances.
Talks between the union and the Government are in progress, Ms Truss said, adding that they were expecting to talk again on Tuesday morning, but "instead the POA refused to respond to our proposal and called for this unlawful action without giving any notice".
Ms Truss said that the strike action risked making prisons more dangerous, and said "we are taking the necessary legal steps to end this unlawful industrial action".
Dave Todd, POA representative for London, Surrey, Kent, and Sussex, said of the action: "We need to act to protect ourselves," he said. "It has not come about quickly - it's a build-up over probably years actually.
"It's just unsafe. To me, prison officers taking this type of action speaks volumes for what's happening inside."
As prison staff walked out today, the trial involving Jo Cox's murder had to be halted amid disruption, as the defendant Thomas Mair could not be moved from the prison to attend court.